Abracadabra
by Angel of Gethsemane
Summary: Harry Potter was left on a doorstep in the middle of the night. He wasn't loved or even liked by what was supposed to be his family. But someone noticed, and it wasn't those who should have. Now he was returning as a stranger to what should have been his home.
1. The Announcement

Abracadabra

_Harry Potter was left on a doorstep in the middle of the night. He wasn't loved or even liked by what was supposed to be his family. But someone noticed, yet it wasn't those who should have. Now he was returning as a stranger to what should have been his home._

…

_Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Harry Potter._

_AN: Assume cannon only withholding Harry Potter after the age of five, and that is basically the background for the Wizarding World. Any inconsistencies will be explained throughout._

Chapter One – The Announcement

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, regarded as one of the greatest Headmasters that Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had seen in many years, walked purposefully out of his office and down the spiraling staircase. He moved past the stone gargoyle, which jumped spryly out of his way, and across the hall to a little looked at painting. It was one of hundreds of portraits that lined the walls of Hogwarts, however it was one of few that depicted a landscape rather than a person. It was also one of the only paintings in all of Hogwarts that did not move.

Dumbledore raised his knotted wand, a wand many would love to have as their own, if only they knew which wand it was. He had not always been the owner of this fabled wand, but as circumstance had revealed, his duel with his once dear friend, Gellert Grindelwald, ended with it finding its way into his possession. The wand had chosen him to be its master, how long it would stay with him, Dumbledore could not know. But for now, as it had for the past fifty-two years, it remained loyal to him and glowed a light purple color at the tip with his silent spell.

The still portrait came to life at once. The unmoving waves began to lap against the marshland shore. The gray clouds rolled across the sky and lightning flashed ominously in the background. A single window in the small dark cottage at the edge of the painting lit up and then the front door slowly started to swing open. The portrait itself, at that moment, also swung inwards revealing a passageway that not even the infamous and happily graduated Weasley twins were aware of. This secret passage lead from the seventh floor all the way to the staffroom on the ground floor. Without this most secret of passageways, to the students at least, Dumbledore could only imagine how long it would take him to get to dinner every night. After all, he wasn't a spry young man of a hundred anymore. He was especially thankful for it this night however, as he was running late for the year's Welcome Feast. He wasted no time in moving through it.

Scant minutes later, Dumbledore stepped out from behind the wardrobe in the staffroom, which cleverly hid the staircase behind it. He came to a startled stop to see his perpetually black clad Potions Master, Severus Snape, standing stoically by the door with his arms crossed over his chest. Dumbledore kept his well-practiced composure, not letting the younger man see that he'd been surprised by his unsuspected presence. He walked further into the room, a greeting on his lips and nearly jumped out of his robes when his Deputy Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, spoke up from the other side of the wardrobe.

"The first years have been sorted. The start of term notices have been given. You have not missed a sorting in twelve years. Twelve years! What on earth has kept you, Albus?" The stern woman asked indignantly as she stood gracefully, straightening out her deep green robes. "There are whispers already spreading among the students that you have fallen ill and _you_ left me nothing to counter them with!"

Dumbledore quickly recovered from his momentary fright, as his Head of Gryffindor ranted. Minerva was as sly as her Animagus form and as quick to irritate. He blatantly ignored the amused smirk that came from his Head of Slytherin and stepped forward before the woman could go further. "Now, Minerva, you cannot expect me to be on time for everything, I am an old, old, old man after all," he said in a commiserating sort of way.

Minerva snorted. "You may be one-hundred and sixteen this year, Albus, but no one will see you as old for another forty years at least."

"At least," Severus muttered in agreement, his amused smirk still firmly in place.

Dumbledore looked between the two. He didn't know how to counter that, but he wasn't about to let them know. Besides his tardiness came with a very good and exciting excuse. He pulled out an envelope from his robes. "The Board has finally replied," he said, completely and effectively changing the subject.

The two quickly came to attention at that news. "They have? Well, Albus, don't keep us in suspense, what did they say?" Minerva practically demanded when Dumbledore didn't go on.

Dumbledore smiled mysteriously and then swept passed Severus and left the room. "Albus?" the man said inquiringly, following immediately after him, with Minerva on their heels. "Did they say yes or no, Albus?"

"Ah, now you take an interest, Severus," Dumbledore said airily, a smile hidden well on his lips. "And here I thought you didn't care either way. You certainly said so yourself," he reminded as he walked towards the Great Hall.

"The decision was not mine to take an interest in, Albus, but of course I… _care_," Severus sneered the word distastefully. "If they said no, I have little to worry about. If they said yes, the Dark Lord will have reason to interfere."

Minerva frowned when Dumbledore halted suddenly, causing the other two to stop as well. He turned to look at the younger man, his smile gone from his face and his eyes altogether. "You informed me that Lord Voldemort was not yet aware of the challenge. Was this a lie?"

Severus' posture visibly stiffened. Dumbledore hated having to question his Potion Master's allegiance yet again, but Voldemort was as charismatic and persuasive as he'd ever been and Severus had not had to confront the likes of the Dark Lord in many years. Dumbledore honestly worried for the younger man, and he constantly found himself questioning his own decision of asking Severus to be his spy again. He was concerned that the temptation would eventually be too much.

"At the time he was not aware," Severus assured calmly, showing none of the bitterness, Dumbledore knew was there. "However, Draco came to me when he arrived this evening. Lucius it seems saw the challenge on Minister Bones' desk yesterday. It is only a matter of time before the Dark Lord is made aware that I withheld this information from him," he said solemnly. "And we all know that Lucius will make it known that it was deliberate. He is desperate enough to get anyone other than himself in the Dark Lord's line of fire after his removal from the Board, including me."

Dumbledore just kept from pinching the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache coming on. He'd refrained from telling even his Order of the Phoenix about the challenge before it was made public. Minister Bones had agreed to keep it just as secret until the Board came to a decision. Only the Hogwarts Heads of House were made aware, and even then, they had been given very little details of where the challenge had come from. Voldemort's attacks worryingly had increased over the last year, but he'd still abstained from attacking more than Muggles and Muggleborn families, with the major exception of his attack on Azkaban last Halloween. He was being careful this time, more secretive, which meant it was getting increasingly harder to know what his plans were.

"We will come up with something," Dumbledore finally decided on, and then continued on into the Great Hall. This was not a conversation he wanted to continue where young ears could at any moment become present.

Students across the hall turned to look at the three when they arrived. Dumbledore smiled at them all as they moved to the top of the hall and the staff table. The rest of his professors, both new and old, were looking at him curiously. Minerva had of course been correct about him not having missed a sorting in twelve years and he did regret missing this one. Minerva and Severus both took their usual seats on either side of his, but Dumbledore remained standing stoically in front of the four Hogwarts houses. The students of Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin, quickly fell silent and turned to look up at him expectantly.

Many of the faces looking up at him had the resemblance of other children Dumbledore had once had the privilege to teach, so alike, and yet so different they were to their parents before them. Dumbledore always looked forward to seeing the ever-changing faces again at the new term, and even more so, the new faces that arrived every year, but to Dumbledore there was always a sense of wrongness in the hall on that first day, and had been now for seven years. A student was missing and he wasn't the only one who felt it.

After a moment to let the chatter settle, Dumbledore smiled brightly at all of the inquisitive faces. The sorting had revealed an almost even number of nervous and excited first year students joining each of the four long tables. With his regular start of term announcements having already been said for him and dinner still on many of the plates, most who hadn't yet tucked into desert, the students were obviously curious about what Dumbledore had to say. Normally, he would have left them to their meals, but he knew that the news he had just received would only leave further opportunity for discussion, and he was more inclined to let them speak over their dinner and dessert rather than have them late to bed with classes so early the next morning.

"Thank you for your attention and I must apologize for my tardiness and interrupting your meals, however I have just received some news that I believe you all should be aware of." The students perked up more at that and the Heads of House subtly moved to sit on the edge of their seats in anticipation as well. Dumbledore pretended he didn't notice.

"About one week ago, I was made aware of an unusual inquiry from our Minister of Magic about the reinstatement of the long held tradition of the Dueling Tournament. Many of you may remember from your History of Magic classes that Dueling Tournaments were banned from Hogwarts for security reasons during the war with Grindelwald and was never reinstated. I therefore was curious why our Minister would suddenly be so interested in reinstating a tradition we have done without for many years now. It was then that I came to learn that the reason for the inquiry came in the form of a formal challenge sent from a school in North America to all of the European schools, through their respective ministries."

At this, many of the students started to mutter excitingly to one another. It was expected given the climate of things, anything new to keep their young minds off the impending war. Dumbledore had so far tried to keep the shadow of the dark conflict building within the Wizarding world, outside of Hogwarts' walls. But he knew that the students still felt it, some more than others. He glanced briefly at the Gryffindor table, but kept the sadness out of his eyes.

Dumbledore raised his hand after a moment and the students again fell silent. "I'm sure you are all as fascinated as I was at the prospect of this challenge. But I had an insight that dampened my excitement some. After all, it was not our ministry who banned the tournament, but the Hogwarts Board of Governors," he said with false graveness.

The students grumbled, mostly the older students and Dumbledore allowed it. He shared in his students' annoyance with the Board at times as well. Especially, after they were denied the chance to host the Tri-Wizard Tournament three years ago, in a large part due to Lucius Malfoy's interference. It had been decided by the ministry that the tournament was to be held at Hogwarts as a political maneuver to promote the unification of the European Wizarding nations. The decision had come on the eve of a Death Eater raid at the Quidditch World cup, one where many were killed and many more were injured.

The ministry didn't want to lose the rest of Europe's support if indeed the Death Eaters were going to become active again. They needed their allies if it were to escalate to war and even as, then Minister Fudge had denied the return of Voldemort, he wasn't stupid enough to believe they had a chance if Europe turned their backs on them. However, Lucius singlehandedly turned the board member's minds away from the idea of hosting the tournament, forcing their disappointed Ministry of Magic to concede to allow Durmstrang to play host; and hadn't that been a _toiling_ affair.

In truth, Lucius had done it so that the Ministry of Magic would be looking elsewhere while Lord Voldemort and his most loyal followers helped themselves to not only a prophecy orb deep within the Ministry of Magic, but also a piece of old magic that eventually lead to the Dark Lord gaining back his life. When the board had finally found out what Lucius had done, they'd dismissed him from the Board of Governors and would have had him arrested, but the man had technically done nothing illegal. He'd used no spells, only words, hadn't even accompanied the Dark Lord to the Ministry. The Malfoy's had always been very careful not to openly show their true allegiances.

Dumbledore pushed those thoughts aside for later. "So after some personal deliberation, I took it upon myself to write the Board," he continued. "And I have just now received their reply." He held up the letter in front of his face adjusting his half-moon spectacles as he did. "It says here, that since neither Durmstrang nor Beauxbatons felt that they could be ready to host such a challenge in the allotted time that it only seems right that Hogwarts should take up the challenge on behalf of all of the European schools." Dumbledore lowered the letter. "Therefore, I am pleased to announce that starting the first of November to the time term ends for the winter holidays; we will be hosting thirty students from Runes Academy of Magic for the first Dueling Tournament in over fifty-two years. And as this challenge was issued not only to us, but Beauxbatons and Durmstrang as well, we will be inviting thirty students of their choosing from each school, to stay with us for the duration and be allowed to compete."

The hall was silent for a moment as they digested this and then the excited chatter began anew as the news sunk in. Dumbledore again let them speak for a long moment before holding up his hand and the students dutifully fell silent. "Since only thirty Hogwarts students will be chosen to compete, we will be holding our own competition over the next month to choose those thirty. The victors chosen at the end of September will then have to sit a Dueling and Dueling Etiquette class with Professors Snape and Black over the next month –"

"Headmaster," Snape abruptly interrupted, something that rather shocked Dumbledore, not that he showed it even as the student's eyes widened, and they looked between them. "Did you just say that _Black_ and I will be hosting this class, _together_?"

Dumbledore turned slightly to look at his Head of Slytherin. He smiled. "I had told you to take an interest," he said cheerfully and then turned back to the students, continuing as if he'd not been interrupted. "Which will continue until winter holidays. So if you are not prepared to take on the extra class, I would suggest not competing. For those of you who wish to compete, a sign-up sheet will be available tonight in all of your common rooms."

The gossip began as soon as Dumbledore finished and moved to take his seat, but it wasn't so much the student's reactions that the headmaster sought out, but that of his Potions Professor and new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. Severus had a look of shock, confusion, eagerness, and indignation on his face. Sirius Black just seemed pleased to have been chosen. Dumbledore smiled and then laughed all together when it finally sunk in for Severus and the man glared at him. It would all work out in the end he was sure.

…

Halfway across the world, in another time zone completely, the dining hall at Runes Academy of Magic was as always, a cacophony of sound. Lunch was by far the busiest time of day since the students who commuted to school joined with the resident students for the meal. Large round tables were loaded down with food and books alike as students ate, studied, and did last minute homework in the one hour between classes.

At a table to the back of the hall, the Dueling Defenders, thirteen seventh year students who were the top ranking dueling students at Runes, could be seen determinedly practicing complicated wand movements with their hands or pencils, while their peers watched on, sometimes correcting them.

Among the thirteen, Harry Authland, Dueling Champion, Captain, and elected School President, flipped through a thick book that was large enough to take up a good portion of space at the table. His sister, Celesta, second in rank among the Dueling Defenders, leaned on his shoulders, stopping him every other page to study a technique or simply laugh at one.

"You tried to poison me!"

"No I haven't!"

"You put it there!"

"No I didn't!"

Movement and talk came to an abrupt halt at the table and eleven pairs of eyes moved to look at Andrew and Ian Denison, fifth and eleventh rank respectfully. The two twins stopped their glare at one another and looked to their staring classmates.

"Trying to kill each other again?" Eron Mortison, twelfth in rank, asked quite seriously. "If he dies, can I get his broom?"

"I'm not going to die!" Andrew gasped out. "And no you can't have my broom!" He practically hissed at Eron.

"Of course you're not going to die," Ian said reasonably. "Because you haven't been poisoned."

"Then what _is_ that on my plate?" Andrew demanded, pointing at a green something in the middle of his mash potatoes.

The others all leaned forward to look at the boy's plate and then smirked at each other. Celesta shook her head over her brother's shoulders. "I don't know, Har, what do you think? Is it poison?"

Harry looked gravely at the plate. He breathed out dramatically. "Well, we haven't gotten too far in Practical Poisons, but we have covered the most poisonous plants, and I have to say…" he paused theatrically and looked up at Andrew intently. "I'm pretty sure that broccoli isn't one of them."

Andrew looked down at the unassuming vegetable and then pushed his plate away with a blush staining his cheeks. "All the same, I still don't trust it."

The others laughed at that, shaking their heads as they went back to what they were doing.

"It's been over a week, given three days for the owl to arrive, we should have heard something by now," Emily Alexandre, tenth in rank, spoke up with a scratchy voice from the other side of the table.

"It's just their first day of school Em, they probably haven't decided yet," Mellisa Julson, ranked thirteen, said while not looking away from her book. "And you should take a Pepper-Up potion before you get worse," she reminded.

"I want to take a Pepper-Up, really, but my mom says I should get over this on my own, without the aid of magic," Emily grumbled miserably and then blew her nose into one of several tissues on the table. The others sitting near her subtly scooted away from her. "Something about developing my immune system."

"Forget the broccoli, its Em who's going to kill me," Andrew muttered to Ian, who snorted, and nodded, this time agreeing with his brother.

"Have you explained to your mother that potions are so much more effective than Muggle means and that they fight the cold by boosting your immune system to the point where the cold can't survive?" Harry asked in between page turns.

Emily nodded morosely. "She doesn't trust them because she can't take them. My dad keeps telling her that she's only making me suffer, but she says non-magic people have been getting over the common cold for centuries without the aid of magic and that there's no reason I can't too."

"Did you tell her that the common cold in Witches and Wizards can lead to random bouts of accidental magic that could cause serious damage to her precious Muggle home?" Cargon Lockwood, sixth in rank, asked quickly and rather crassly as he waved his butter knife in perfect imitation of the Blasting Curse as if to prove a point.

Emily glared at the purist. "Cargon, I might not be from an old _pureblood_ family, but even I know that's a load of bull."

"I'm being serious," retorted Cargon as if affronted, none of them believed it for a moment. "This kid at Salem told me that his little brother just twelve years old got a cold and ended up blowing up his kitchen when he sneezed."

Emily looked uncertain at that for a moment before Cargon smirked at her. "You're such an a–"

Whatever Emily was going to say was cutoff when Knox Smith, ninth in rank, nudged her in the side as the Provost and President of the school board, Diana Hunter, walked into the dining hall, stopping just over the threshold and not twenty feet from their table. She didn't look their way, but towards the door. The thirteen all perked up and stopped what they were doing again, to eavesdrop on the conversation she was still having with someone who hadn't enter into the hall yet.

"… But I'm not sure the Defenders know what they've gotten themselves into with this challenge," the familiar voice of the other person, said just loud enough for them to hear, as he entered beside the Provost. Emmanuel Kane, the Dueling Master and instructor surveyed the students at the various tables, and clearly made it a point to look towards the thirteen. They all pretended to go back to what they were doing very quickly.

"Perhaps not, but it should be an interesting experience for them," Provost Hunter said. "And they need this challenge after last year," she added softly, shaking her head sadly. She looked towards their table as well, but none of them made eye contact, still listening very hard. "He's not going to like our decision though," she said more quietly.

"I wonder what decision that is?" Celesta muttered to Harry.

"Cel, be quiet," Harry shushed his sister so he could here. They were talking about him.

Master Kane nodded. "Certainly not, and I'm sure he'll do everything in his ability to compete."

"That is my nephew for you. Have you ever seen him give up on anything?" the provost said and Harry smiled lightly.

"No," the Dueling Master agreed. "He'll be trying to the last minute though."

"That he will. Well, I think they've been eavesdropping long enough. Do you wish to make the announcement or shall I?" Provost Hunter asked and then the thirteen all hid their faces with their arms or books in embarrassment.

"Allow me. I want to see the look on all their faces when they realized just what they've gotten themselves into." The provost giggled lightly as the Dueling Master walked purposely to the front of the hall.

Not many looked up from their meals or books, in some cases both, but the thirteen leaned into one another, starting to whispered excitedly. Master Kane smirked at them until he reached the slightly raised dais and then after schooling his face into a neutral mask, he turned on his heel to fully face the hall, allowing his deep blue robe to swirl about his feet impressively as he did.

Master Kane crossed his arms over his chest and then said simply, but loudly, "Attention," in a clipped tone. The hall immediately fell silent and every student turned to look up at him. "Thank you," he said. "As you know, the Dueling Association participated last year at the Rocky Mountain School of Magic in our annual winter tournament. We all are aware of the results of that tournament and the _deplorable_ circumstances that followed."

Some of the students whispered quietly to one another and looked back to the table of thirteen, but most remained silent as Master Kane continued. "In light of the incident, the Rock has elected to withdrawn from competition until they deem that their students have been instilled once again with the proper amount of decorum befitting such tournaments."

Many of the students looked meaningfully at one another. It wasn't often that a school withdrew from competition entirely and it hadn't happened in more than fifty years when the European schools withdrew because of the World Wars.

"Many of you may have already come to the conclusion that the Salem Witches Institute would be next to host the tournament as they were chosen for the summer challenge next year. Regrettably, they have expressed the desire to withhold from competing this winter, sighting that the majority of their best duelists graduated last year and they do not feel that two months is a sufficient amount of time for training and that they hadn't planned on competing this winter."

The thirteen attempted to cover snorts of amusement as the Dueling Master rolled his eyes, clearly showing what he thought of the other school's training regimen. Provost Hunter coughed purposefully from across the hall and Master Kane continued on before his Defenders could submit any comments on his teaching methods, though they all smirked at one another. The Dueling Master practically led them like they were an army and he always had at least ten other prospective duelers in his sights should any of them need to step down for any reason.

"We have contacted the other four schools in the America's. However, none of them feels that they can be ready either. This of course, leaves us without a host school and an opponent for this year's winter tournament." The majority of the students verbally expressed displeasure at this, especially the members of the Dueling Association, who were beginning to look really disappointed.

"He's not finished," Harry suddenly spoke up loudly and the group around him laughed as he blushed in embarrassment as the Dueling Master glared at him. "Sorry," he said sheepishly, ducking slightly.

"Indeed," Master Kane said. "I am not finished. The seventh year Dueling Defenders and their _Captain_ took it upon themselves to fix our little dilemma. They have issued a formal challenge to the three European schools of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, and Durmstrang Institute. And I am happy to announce that Hogwarts in Great Britain has accepted the challenge on behalf of all three schools and agreed to play host to the tournament this November."

"All three?" Harry asked forcefully and with slight panic. His voice echoed over the hall followed by sniggers from several tables, including his own.

"Yes, Captain, all three," Provost Hunter repeated smugly and all the students turned to look at her. "Thirty students from each school will compete this year. And I know that the Defense Association will rise to the challenge as they always do. At the end of it, though, not only will this year's Dueling Champion take home the trophy and the honor of being named Champion, but also one-thousand galleons in prize money graciously funded by the British Ministry of Magic."

The hall clapped encouragingly and excitingly at that and Harry sat back as the other Defenders reached out to pat him on the shoulders or shook his hand. "This is going to make things interesting," Harry said with a shake of his head.

"Well you did say you wanted a competition," Celesta said dryly. "And you certainly got one."

"Now all you have to do is convince Aunt Diana to let you compete," Shane Edwards, third in rank, reminded on Harry's other side.

"And Dad to let you go," Celesta added.

Harry dropped his head onto the table with an audible thud while the others laughed around him.

…

_AN: Any thoughts?_


	2. Everything Will be Fine

_Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Harry Potter._

Chapter Two – Everything Will be Fine

Harry sat tapping his fingers rhythmically against the arm of the hard wooden chair he was sitting on. He matched vaguely the patter of the rain that hit against the window across him. He was dressed to impress in his finest school robes with his shoulder length black hair tamed and tied neatly back away from his face. He had his eyes closed and a frown marred his face as he concentrated on hearing what was being said on the other side of the closed door in front of him. The voices were little more than mumbles floating out from under the thick door, but he really wanted to know their final decision before he was allowed into the room.

"Harry, you may see the provost now," a kind female voice startled him out of his concentration.

Harry's eyelids snapped opened revealing vivid green eyes in the reflection of the window, and he was embarrassed to see his cheeks reddened some when the administrative assistant, Christine, smirked knowingly at him. He stood, straightened out the dark blue robes he wore over a pair of simple black slacks and a white button down shirt, and then he grabbed the cane that sat beside his chair. He limped across the hall and into the provost's office. Harry closed the door lightly behind him before turning to the two Heads of Runes Academy.

"Harry, please take seat," Provost Hunter said, indicating one of the two chairs in front of her three-century-old desk, likely one of the oldest surviving pieces of furniture in the entire school, well maybe besides the chair outside.

Harry picked up his cane and forced himself to walk as normal as possible to the offered seat. He sat down, hiding a wince. This was his last chance to make them see that he was fit to compete, if he screwed up now, they'd leave without him and he wasn't about to be left behind like some cripple for what was probably going to be his last dueling tournament of his school career, no matter how much pain he was still in.

Harry looked up to the provost and Dueling Master expectantly. Provost Hunter was a kind, but strict, light haired woman, younger than his mother. She had been the provost since Harry started at Runes, her first year being Harry's. She was also his father's sister. As such, they knew each other rather well. Master Kane was Diana's opposite. He had attended the school, some thought since the ice age, but Harry was fairly certain he wasn't much past his fifties with only the slightest streaks of grey showing in his coal black hair. He was military strict and let the students get away with nothing, but he did always have a soft spot for Harry, his best student, as he liked to boast. Harry doubted he was his best, but certainly most dedicated.

"Emmanuel and I have discussed this at length, Harry, and we do not feel that you have recovered sufficiently enough to be able to safely participate in this year's tournament," the provost said with finality. No small talk, no platitudes, no commiserations, just straight forward and to the point, just like Provost Hunter liked to operate things.

Harry mentally took in a deep breath. He had expected this, but it would have been so much easier if they had just let him go. Now he had to be both careful and persuasive in his wording. They left tonight, so this really was his last chance. He had hoped that over the last couple of months that he'd shown he had improved significantly.

"Provost, Master," he acknowledged the two respectfully, though he'd used both their first names for years. "I can understand your feelings in this situation. A student under your care left on a school-sanctioned trip and came back near death. And I can understand your concern about allowing that student to participate in another similar event, especially because the incident that caused his near death was partially his fault. However, as that student I feel that it should be my decision on whether or not I am physically capable to compete or not. I know I made a mistake last year. I've acknowledged what I did was wrong, and was punished for it, and you know I won't let it happen again. I have also been practicing for months and I feel that I am ready for this tournament."

"Harry, we know you've learned you lesson. But it's not a matter of if you feel you are ready to compete again, it's the matter of your physical health and mental wellbeing. You still use a cane to move around, anyone can see that you are in pain, even from simple movements. Physically your body is not ready to duel even on an academic level," Master Kane explained.

This time Harry did take in a deep breath. "But the incident was months ago," he nearly cringed when his tone sounded petulant even to his own ears. "I feel that I am well enough to participate in this tournament. The pain isn't that bad anymore. And I've been practicing daily with the Dueling Defenders, and for the most part I come out the winner, if you'd just watch me duel…"

"Harry, we have watched you," Diana said firmly. "We have watched you bite back the pain to dodge a simple curse. We have watched you stumble while holding up a shield charm, and even if we overlooked your physical capabilities; Harry, you still flinch whenever a wand is raised at you."

"That's not…" Harry's voice was tight as he tried to argue the truth of that, but it was true. He looked away from the two heads and down at the top of the provost's mahogany colored desk. He imagined that he could see almost every grain of wood as he focused on getting his emotions under check as his mother had taught him.

It had been almost a year since the tournament at the Rock and though Harry pushed himself back into a normal rhythm, made himself focus on the routine of his everyday life, he just couldn't leave what had happened behind him. His aunt was right. He did flinch whenever someone raised a wand at him. He forced himself to push past it, but there was always that split second where all he could see was their malicious faces and the tips of their wands pointing at his battered body.

_"You want a duel, _Captain_; we'll give you a real duel!" _

Harry looked up from the desk and pushed aside his memories and emotions. "I have worked passed that," he said calmly, and with confidence that he in no way felt. "And the pain in my legs and hand isn't nearly as bad as it was even a week ago." And that was truth. The pain was less every day.

"Harry, though we see that you are improving, the tournament starts in two days and we feel that you are not ready. You will not compete, and that is final," Provost Hunter said sternly. Harry bit the inside of his cheek and looked away from the woman to keep his disappointment and anger in check. "However, when Salem Institute withdrew, it was your idea to broaden the competition to Europe. What is it going to say to the others when we deny the one person who made this winter's tournament possible, the chance to at least attend? Not to mention that you are still Runes current Dueling Champion and Captain," she said with a long-suffering sigh.

Harry blinked and then looked up at the two heads who both wore identical smirks. "You're letting me go?" he questioned quickly.

Diana smiled. "You may attend the tournament, Harry, if you desire and your father gives consent, but I am serious about you not competing. You will go to support the Dueling Defenders, if you wish, they are your team, but you will not duel yourself," she said firmly and Harry nearly leapt up from his chair to hug the woman, but managed to contain himself. They were at school after all. He wasn't to compete, but he was going to Hogwarts, that was at least something.

Harry stilled after a moment though as the entirety of what his aunt said registered in his brain. "I have to get Dad's consent?"

"You may be seventeen, but you are still a student and until the time that you are not, the rules still apply," Master Kane said and then handed Harry a familiar piece of paper. "Have your father fill this out and be back here this evening by ten with your belongings. We leave promptly at ten-thirty. And though I realize its Halloween, you may wish to take a nap if you can. It will be six-thirty in the morning when we arrive."

Harry nodded, and a bit subdued, took the paper held out to him. Getting his father's consent to duel at other schools had never been a problem before, but those schools had been in the America's, all of them. And though Harry was sure that his father would consent to let him go to any number of the European schools, this school just happened to be in the United Kingdom, and that was one place that his father was adamant about Harry never going to.

Harry stood and thanked the two heads sincerely and then made his way out of the office and back through the halls of the school. He passed a few students on his way back to his dormitory that he used only during the week, returning home to spend time with his family most weekends. He waved his waver form in the air as he passed one of the Dueling Defenders and Mellisa pumped her hand in the air with a smile, before speeding up to catch up with the rest of her friends. Harry could only smile slightly as he knew that the news that they were letting him go would spread like wild fire now. What a _disappointment_ it would be when they found out that they wouldn't have to compete against him. Harry snorted at the thought as he finally reached his dorm room.

He wasn't surprised to find his roommate Shane, curled up on his bed with a book propped open on his lap and a bowl of chips just within reaching distance of his left hand. He absently grabbed at a chip and popped it into his mouth as he looked up at Harry.

"Hey, Har, so what Aunt Diana and Master Kane have to say?" he asked immediately, not one to let the suspense build.

Harry leaned his cane against his desk and then turned back to the light haired teen and held up the paper. "If I get consent I can go, but I can't compete," he said and then slapped it down on his desk.

"Well at least that's something, you still get to go," Shane said helpfully, but a little too cheerfully, and then he noticed that Harry was starting to gather his things together as he did every normal Friday. "You are going right?"

"If I can talk Dad into signing this before ten tonight, you'll see me back here then, but if on the off chance that he says no… either way I still have laundry that needs to be done, I need to pack, and we'll be gone for almost two months so he'll want me to say my goodbyes to Mom. It's not like they can come and visit on the weekends, or even come to the major tournament matches like usual," Harry rambled as he packed and secured his laundry bag.

"You don't think Uncle Jonathon's going to give consent, do you?" Shane asked, setting aside his book. Harry and Shane had roomed together since they were eleven and been friends before even starting school due to Harry's father being Shane's godfather. They knew each other pretty well, and knew their pasts just as well.

Harry tossed his bag onto his bed with more force than he meant and then shook his head. "If it had been Beauxbatons or even Durmstrang, or any other school to accept the challenge, I don't think Dad would care, but its Hogwarts, it's the United Kingdom…" He shook his head again. "I was hoping that they wouldn't care about getting consent because I was seventeen. I haven't even discussed it with him yet."

"He'll think it's too close to England," Shane summoned up and Harry nodded. "Look, they may be on the same island, Harry, but there is a lot of distance between where Hogwarts is and where London is. London's in the south and Hogwarts, that's in Scotland, right. It is two entirely different countries. The odds of someone at Hogwarts recognizing an orphan from London after twelve years, that's like impossible. You don't even look like the scrawny kid you used to be," he added with a smirk.

Harry grabbed and chucked his pillow at the teen, who ducked with a laugh. "I was not scrawny, I was five. If anyone was the scrawny one, it was you," Harry quipped back with false indignation.

Shane opened his mouth to protest, but then the door behind Harry burst open without so much as a knock. Neither teen even flinched as the blonde bustled into their room and picked up Harry's consent form from his desk. She looked it over, taking in all of the details, frowning and yet smirking, as she saw the obvious bit about him not competing, and then she lowered the form.

"Okay, we need a game plan. Father will sign our forms if we can present our case logically enough. Whatever the two of you do, no one mentions England. Its Scotland or Hogwarts, anything else is just going to send his mind thinking about the past and the horrible situation we found you in."

Harry and Shane smirked at each other.

"So Cel, does that mean that you are going to compete after all?" Shane asked casually.

For the last two months, Harry's sister had been up in arms about the thought that Harry wasn't going to be allowed to compete. She'd stated over and over that if he couldn't compete, then she wouldn't compete, and that was a real threat to many because Celesta was one of the top seventh year dueling students next to Harry. She probably would have gotten Champion at the summer duel if the school hadn't withdrawn due to Harry's condition. Of course, Shane and Harry both knew that it was an empty threat. Celesta would never pass up the opportunity to compete her last year, especially at a place like Hogwarts, even for her brother.

Celesta looked at the two incredulously. "Of course I'm competing, with Harry out of the competition I have a real shot at being the Dueling Champion this year." Shane laughed, but Harry huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't get me wrong, Har, if you were competing I'd certainly rise to the challenge, but that doesn't mean that I'm not taking full advantage of the situation you've found yourself in."

"I wouldn't expect anything less, Cel," Harry muttered and then laughed when she poked at his ribs.

"Okay, so have you thought about what you're going to say to Father?" Celesta asked seriously after a moment.

Harry went back to packing and shook his head again. "I'm afraid anything I say isn't going to be good enough. You know what Dad's going to say. He's going to argue that if anyone who knew me is still looking for me and saw me, recognized me, that… that they'd take me away…"

Celesta put her hand on his shoulder. "No one's going to take you from us, Harry. Even if Father hadn't adopted you, you are seventeen now, an adult in the eyes of the entire Wizarding world. Even on the slim chance that someone, a family member, anyone recognized you, it is your choice where you go, and what you do, and no one can say otherwise. And Father, he just has to see that too. Counter his arguments logically, as he taught us too, and he'll eventually, hopefully before ten, run out of things to argue about," Celesta finished.

"So basically your game plan is for Harry to push a lion into a corner, and hope all goes well. This should be fun," Shane said with a snort, pulling his bowl of chips towards him, and started munching down on them.

"Oh, shush you," Celesta said and stuck her tongue out at Shane who stuck his tongue out right back, food and all. She rolled her eyes and then turned back to Harry with a huff. "If all else fails, point your wand at him and say _Abracadabra_, and tell him everything will be fine. He always softens up after that."

Harry smiled fondly at the memory that one word provoked. The day his dad had rescued him from his abusive Muggle family, he'd basically been scared shitless that they were going to come after him and take him away. He then knew nothing about magic; but when his dad had pointed his wand at him, and said _Abracadabra_ and told him everything was going to be fine, he believed him and knew deep down that it would be.

…

"…So in short, I am old enough to make my own decisions, but you still have to sign the consent form," Harry finished as he sat in front of his father, Jonathon Authland, at their dining room table. The form sat untouched on the table between them. His father ran his hand through his short blond hair and stared at Harry intently for a long moment before standing and pacing the room.

Jonathon had yet to say a single word since Harry and he had sat down, and now the silence was starting to unnerve Harry. Normally his father would interrupt now and then with questions he felt that Harry might not remember to answer or know too. His interrogation technique as Harry had come to call it. In all honesty, it generally served to fluster Harry enough that if he'd been trying to keep something secret, it ended up coming out anyway. But this time he'd listened to Harry all the way through, not saying a word.

Harry ran his hand over his face as his father stopped in front of the bay window that looked out over Vancouver, still not saying anything. "Hogwarts is in Scotland, that is quite a distance from London," Harry said gently when he found that he could take the silence no more.

Jonathon leaned on the windowsill heavily and then taking in a deep breath, he turned back to his son with a truly guilty look in his blue eyes, something Harry had never been faced with from his father before. "Harry, there is something I need to tell you about the circumstances surrounding your adoption. And this may weigh heavily on your decision to go to Hogwarts."

Harry sat up a little more in his seat. He'd expected his dad to start ranting and raving, not act as if he'd killed someone. Harry stilled at that thought, oh boy, he hoped his father didn't tell him that he'd killed someone. That would lead to a whole lot of uncomfortable. "What is it, Dad?" he prompted, just so his father would get it over with.

"Harry, I didn't exactly take you legally. In the eyes of the Wizarding world, I essentially kidnapped you," Jonathon said bluntly.

Harry couldn't help his mouth dropping open. His father was the epitome of the law. He was a judge in the Wizarding High Court system for God's sake. The thought that he had even considered kidnapping, just couldn't be comprehended by Harry's brain. Let along that he'd been the one kidnapped.

"In the Muggle world, legally I took custody of you," Jonathon reassured quickly at the panicked look forming on Harry's face. "Your aunt and uncle signed custody of you over to me in the eyes of the Muggle law allowing your mother and I to adopt you. But in the Wizarding world, I could not petition for adoption without them taking you away from me and likely placing you back with your relatives."

That last part was the thing that Harry grabbed onto. His father had always taught him and his sister to think logically, so the illogical thing was what Harry's brain reacted to. "Why would the Wizarding world take me away from you? Why place me back with them. They'd just have sent me to an orphanage anyway, right, so why not let you adopt me?"

Jonathon came back and sat down in front of his son. He took his scared right hand in his. "When we first left England to return here, your mother and I thought for sure you were a Muggle child. Your relatives never said anything about magic, so I assumed that they knew nothing of it and we didn't bother going to the Wizarding court. But after your first bought of accidental magic, I realized what I had done. I anonymously contacted the British Wizarding government to inquire on how to rectify the situation without making a big scene about essentially kidnapping a Muggleborn, as I thought, but after the first mention of your name, I withdrew. Apparently, your Muggle relatives had no legal right to give you away because you had a magical guardian who requested you stay with them. As it turned out, you weren't just an orphaned Wizarding child, you were the… You are the heir to one of the oldest Wizarding families in England – the Blacks. Your family was –"

Harry stopped his father there. "I'm rich?" he said, for nothing better to say, as emotions rolled through him too strong for him to even comprehend. He didn't want to hear anymore. He'd never asked questions about his biological family before, and he didn't want to hear anything about people who would just toss him off on people like his Muggle relatives.

His father frowned at that. "Harry…"

"No!" Harry shouted retching his hand from his father's and getting up from his seat. He felt as if the world was coming down around his ears. "Oh yes, do go on about how my father, The Judge, was able to commit a crime! How he was able to, apparently kidnap a wealthy child. Do continue to scramble my brain about, until this all makes even less sense!" Harry ranted as he limped the length of the table. He turned back to his father. "Oh and by the way, _Abracadabra_," his voice choked on the word and then he was sinking to the floor breathing heavily and trying to get control over his emotions before his magic reacted to them.

His father was at his side not a moment later. Strong arms wrapped around him. Harry leaned his head onto his father's chest, just as he used to do as a child. It calmed him down significantly. He wasn't so upset about what his father had done, his father had given him a loving home, a family, everything really. His relatives obviously never wanted him, made clear by their treatment of him, and whoever his magical guardian was, had just left him there. No, he was more afraid than anything about what this all meant for his future, what this all meant for his family's future.

"There _are_ people looking for me. It was never a what-if scenario, was it? This is why you'd always been serious about not going on trips to England even for your job. You were afraid that if they recognized me, they'd take me away," Harry whispered.

Jonathon pulled his son back to look into his eyes, eyes that couldn't be matched by anyone in his family, the only thing about his son that couldn't be written off to genetics; even Harry's black hair matched his mother's. Harry scrubbed at his face, embarrassed by the tears he'd let fall.

"Harry, let me be very clear. No one is going to take you away. Yes, I feared it when you were younger, but as you've already pointed out, you are of age now, which gives you a lot more freedom. I know I should have told you this all a long time ago…"

"It's all right, Dad," Harry said as he pulled way and pushed himself back to his feet with difficulty. Jonathon helped him back to his chair and then sat down across from him. Harry, this time took one of his father's hands. "I don't blame you. It's all a bit of a shock to find out that my father committed a crime for me," he said with a slight chuckle, "but I don't blame you. These people who are looking for me, they don't know me or anything about me, and clearly they didn't care to know me as a child, or they wouldn't have given me to my Muggle aunt. As far as I am concerned you, Mom, and Celesta are my family. I don't need anyone else, and to prove that, I won't go to the tournament if you don't want me to, not if there's a chance that someone there might recognize me."

Jonathon pulled on his son's hand to make sure he had his attention. "Harry, I was going to say yes to the tournament, even before you made your argument. You are old enough to make your own decisions, and I think going to the tournament, even if it is at Hogwarts, will do you a lot of good, especially after what happened last year. I think it would help you to get passed it."

Harry pulled his hand back. He hadn't expected his father to actually want him to go and now he was conflicted about the whole thing. On one hand, he wanted to go, but on the other, he didn't want to take the chance now that he knew that there were in fact real people looking for him. "It's not like I'm even competing…"

"No, but I think you need to be there for your friends. Even before I decided to tell you all of this, I knew this. I recommended to Diana that you go. The Dueling Defenders are yours, you've held the thirteen of you together for years, you've brought them this far, and I think you have all learned a lot from each other, even though you've all been contenders with one another. This is the Dueling Defenders last major tournament, and I think, even in light of what happened, or maybe especially, that you need to be together for it."

Harry nodded, though he wasn't sure if he was agreeing with his father or not. "But what if someone recognizes me? I'm not sure how I would deal with that."

Jonathon took his son's hand again and then pulled out his wand and pointed it at Harry. "_Abracadabra_," he said firmly. "Now, everything will be fine."

Harry couldn't help but laugh at that and then he leaned forward and hugged his father tightly. After pulling away, Harry looked uncomfortably to his father. "Does, umm, Mom know about all this?"

Jonathon smiled sadly. "She used to, but I think most of those memories are gone now."

Harry nodded, looking at the top of the table. His mother, when he was little, had been one of the world's best mind healers. She used to help those who'd been Obliviated too often, to regain, maybe not their memories, but at least their lives. She'd even helped those who'd suffered under the Imperious Curse, some for as long as years. The year they'd adopted him, they'd gone to England specifically to help those who'd had prolonged exposure to the Cruciatus Curse, something that had apparently happened a lot round that time.

But when Harry and Celesta were fifteen, their mother had a patient who'd not quite cared about being helped. A criminal who had too much information locked in his brain. Somehow, though no one was sure how, he'd gotten a hold of her wand and cursed her. The healers had done what they could to reverse the curse, but they couldn't do enough. Now it was a good day when she recognized her own children.

"Harry there's more about your biological family you –"

Harry and Jonathon both looked up when there was the sound of someone loudly clearing their throat. "So can he go or what?" Celesta asked bluntly and Harry rolled his eyes at his sister.

"Yes, Celesta, he can go," Jonathon said indulgently. "But Harry, perhaps under the circumstances you should use just the family name, it'll be less recognizable."

Harry nodded uncertainly. He'd always used his own name at tournaments because his father had insisted that he should keep that small piece of his real parents, even though he knew basically nothing about them. His full name, and that which was registered with the Canadian Wizarding and Muggle governments, was technically Harold James Potter-Authland, but his father was correct, he should drop the Potter name while at Hogwarts, even though it would be his first competition not going as Captain Harry Potter.

Celesta grabbed Harry by the wrist and started to pull him from his chair. "Come on Harry, it's seven already, and you still have to pack. Actually, I've seen what you normally pack for tournaments, just show me your wardrobe and I'll pack for you. Hogwarts isn't going to be like going to The Rock or Salem; they actually have a dress code. Can you imagine a dress code?" she said shaking her head and headed out of the room.

Harry looked helplessly and a little frightened towards the doorway before he turned back to his father, a bit more serious. "About my biologically family, I don't care. I know more than I want to know about them already. I don't need to know more." He said and then grabbed his cane and left the room and his father's slightly troubled expression behind.

"Blue robes, blue robes, blue robes," Celesta turned to Harry as he arrived to his bedroom to find his sister half way into his closet. "Har, please don't tell me all of your robes are school robes!"

Harry shrugged. "Well some of them are Defender robes," he commiserated. He'd never had need to buy any others, at least since he'd turned ten and he stopped following his father to work, opting to tag after Shane more instead.

"Oh," Celesta said a bit perturbed. "I wonder if that little town that's said to be next to Hogwarts has a clothing shop. Think they'll let us go their when we arrive?" she asked Harry. He simply shrugged again. He didn't quite fancy shopping with his sister. She could be quite the demon at the mall.

"I'm sure what I have will be fine. I have plenty of school robes, and even if they have a dress code as you say, my robes hide what I'm wearing underneath quite well. You are fussing," he said with a chuckle and Celesta stuck out her tongue at him. Harry moved into his own closet, pulling out, admittedly his more nice clothes.

Usually he preferred to wear jeans and t-shirts, and he'd certainly sneak in a pair or two behind his sister's back, but he also knew that image was everything. With Salem and the Rock, he knew most of the duelers so he didn't feel as if he had to try so hard, but he didn't know the students of Hogwarts or the other two schools. He wanted their first impression of him to be that of the Runes Dueling Champion. He might not be competing this tournament, but he'd earned that title through hard work, and he'd have them acknowledge it. Besides, if they perceived him as the biggest threat from Runes, they'd underestimate the rest of the Defenders. Harry looked over at his sister, well except for maybe Celesta. She was going to scare some of them into forfeit, Harry was certain.

"What are you smirking at?" Celesta asked when she caught Harry staring at her while she folded some of his things.

Harry shook his head. "Nothing, I was just thinking that if you do make champion that I'm going to have to duel you, just so I know my title is safe."

"Only if they ever let you duel again," Celesta snorted and then realized what she'd said. "Harry, I'm sorry…"

"No, it's fine, I've already accepted that I won't duel again while I'm at school. But umm, after school, I've got an application to the International Circuit. When I'm physically fit enough, I'm submitting it," Harry said, looking down at his half-packed trunk, and not at his sister.

"But, Harry, Father said that the International Circuit was dangerous, that there aren't enough rules…"

"I know what Dad says," Harry interrupted. "But he also said that I'm old enough to make my own decisions, you said it yourself, and dueling has been everything to me since I was thirteen. I enjoy it, and I'm good at it and I don't want it to stop just because I'm out of school. Please don't tell Dad, let me do that?"

Celesta looked worriedly at Harry. "All right, I won't tell him, but promise me that you'll be careful. We already almost lost your once, I don't want to go through that again."

Harry smiled at his sister. "_Abracadabra_."

"Everything will be fine," Celesta finished indulgingly with her own smile and then pulled out the pair of jeans Harry had tucked into his trunk when she'd wasn't looking. "Har!" she exclaimed as she threw them at Harry. "No ratty old jeans!"

…

_AN: Till next time._


	3. To Hogwarts

_Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Harry Potter._

Chapter Three – To Hogwarts

Ten o'clock on the dot, Harry and Celesta joined Shane in the white paneled entry hall of Runes. Trunks were lined up against one wall, twenty-nine in all and Harry and Celesta dragged theirs over to complete the number to thirty-one. The Dueling Defenders were off to the side discussing how different Hogwarts was going to be to Runes and Harry, Celesta, and Shane moved over to join them.

Annette Castley, fourth in rank, was just commenting on the time difference between Hogwarts and Runes when Provost Hunter and Master Kane entered into the hall. Harry excused himself and quickly walked over, presenting his and Celesta's waver forms.

"My father said that it was my decision and that I could compete if I wanted to," Harry said very quickly as Master Kane took the forms. Diana glared at her nephew and Harry raised his hands in surrender, leaving his cane to balance magically beside his leg. "Just trying," he said cheekily.

The provost shook her head and looked to the ceiling as if to ask for patience, or maybe thanking the gods that Harry was graduating this year. Harry smirked either way and moved off to join the Defenders again as the rest of the Dueling Association, students from various years, mingled about in their own groups.

Everyone was dressed in their finest school robes, robes that had been made specifically for the Dueling Association. Like their typical school robes, they were of a deep blue color and held the crest of Runes, a circle of tiny runes with a wand down the middle, on the right breast. Unlike their school robes, however, a second crest was on the left side, this one very similar to the school crest except the wand was angled with a sword crossed over it. Also unlike their school robes, these robes were form fitting, and had charms specifically designed for dueling.

The Defenders had something more on their robes that the younger years did not. The hem, the bottom of their sleeves, and down their front and around their neck was lined with silver. It had been Celesta's idea that the Defenders had something different from the rest of the Association, simply because they strived to be the best, were the best, and wanted it known. It was agreed that when they all graduated, that the robes would be turned over to the next group of seventh year duelists, and so on and so forth. Harry was glad that though they were leaving, they were able to leave behind in the school, a tradition, a legacy.

Provost Hunter clapped her hands together to get everyone's attention and they all immediately turned to her. "Tonight, we are going to be stepping into an entirely different world. Not only is it going to be tomorrow when we arrive, but we are going to one of the founding schools of magic. It will be very different from what you are all used to. I've been told that they wear uniforms to classes and special events alike. That the school is separated into four houses, each that hold students from all seven years. And that Hogwarts is strictly a live in school and students are not permitted to leave property without express permission from the faculty, so do remember that, as we will be following this rule as well."

"There are two aspects of Hogwarts that you are going to find very unusual and perhaps startling," carried on Master Kane. "Firstly, ghosts are permitted to have free reign of the school, though I've been assured that they are harmless entities and one of their teachers is in fact a ghost." The provost looked a bit perturbed as her deputy explained this. The Dueling Master just looked amused. Several of the students covered their mouths to keep from showing their amusement as well, while others looked uncertain.

"The second," Provost Hunter continued. "Is that House Elves are responsible for the daily meals and the upkeep of the school and grounds. Now I know that this is very strange to you, since Elf slavery was abolished over a century ago in the America's, but you must keep in mind that it was never abolished in Europe and the House Elves there actually like being of service. I've been asked to tell all of you, not to try and free the Elves. They apparently already have one student continuously trying to do that and the Elves have all but abandoned their duties to that student's house in fear that they would be freed." Again, there were mixed feelings showing on many of the student faces, but amusement was prevalent after the last bit. Even the provost was smirking lightly.

"Their class day's start very early in the morning and go until just before dinner," Master Kane supplied. "I've been told that their classes are structured much differently to ours and in some subjects they may seem either ahead or behind to you. So be careful not to judge them on what they may or may not know. I've also been made aware that magic is permitted in their common rooms, classrooms, out on the grounds, and in their Great Hall, however it is not permitted in their library or in the hallways, due to portraits and other antiques. Also students are instructed to always have their wands available on them."

"Master?" Harry couldn't help but speak up. In fact, when among the Dueling Association, Harry was usually the one most looked at to ask these kinds of questions, so his speaking up was almost expected, though that didn't stop his classmates from hiding their amusement at his abruptness.

"Yes, Harry."

"Since their students are allowed to carry their wands on them, are we permitted ours?" He asked and could see that many of the others were wondering just the same thing, now that he'd brought it up.

"Yes, I was just about to get to that. While at Hogwarts, it is advised that you retain your wand on you at all times. Due to the age of the school, and the amount of magic in and around it, it is likely that objects and the like all over the school have been saturated by magic at some point. I am sure that the students there must have to deal with random oddities all the time that you would likely only run into at Runes every couple of years or so."

"Like random singing wardrobes that run after students, Master?" Shane asked with cheeky smile and several of the older students giggled in remembrance of such a happening. Harry smirked at his cousin knowingly.

"Quite, Mr. Edwards, and that incident still isn't funny," Provost Hunter, said seriously, though they could all see the laughter in her eyes. "Only I would wager some a bit more dangerous than that, so be on your guard, and always travel in pairs." The students nodded at that.

"Yes and there have been several other rules that have been sent to us by the Headmaster of Hogwarts. I've formulated them into a pamphlet and I advise you to memorize them, if only to prevent problems during our stay." Master Kane produced a stack of papers and began handing them out to the students.

Harry took his and started to read down the rather long list, frowning at some of them and rolling his eyes at others. Honestly if something is called forbidden, there is usually a reason for it to be called such, did it really need a written rule… Harry paused as he reached one. He looked up at his aunt. "No dueling? How is that going to work?"

"Ah, yes, I thought that would need explanation. You see, Quidditch is their team sport, not dueling. In fact dueling has been banned at Hogwarts for over fifty years. So the Hogwarts students who are your opponents may have had very little instruction beforehand or practice time. The Headmaster has been kind enough to set up classrooms to allow for our practices, as well as for the students of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, though I do not know how or if he is arranging practice times for his own students."

"So no mock duels then?" Celesta asked as others looked around each other in question at this news.

"I fear that the Defender's tradition of putting on mock duels at visiting schools will have to be put on hold this year. The showing off of your skill and discipline is likely to be perceived as breaking the rules and not good fun as you would wish it to be," the provost said regretfully and Harry could see Celesta fight not to stamp her foot down in frustration.

Harry simply frowned at it all. He hated when traditions that they had set forth, had to be broken because of the intolerance of the school they were going to, though that was just a small bit that they'd had to deal with before and he could get over. But when Harry had suggested challenging the schools in Europe, he hadn't imagined that they would be this unprepared to compete. If what his aunt said was true, the younger Association members alone would likely wipe the floor with the Hogwarts duelers. Harry had the feeling that this was all going to turn out to be a mockery of a true dueling tournament and he was rather glad that he wasn't competing now.

"Are they even going to take this seriously?" Harry couldn't stop himself from voicing his opinion aloud.

"I have been assured that though some Muggleborns will have little knowledge of dueling and dueling etiquette, that most of their other students take dueling very seriously. Many come from very old and wealthy families, where the tradition of the duel is held in the utmost respect," Master Kane said seriously.

Provost Hunter looked at her watch. "It's almost time for us to leave," she announced, and then slipped the timepiece from her wrist as if an afterthought. "I nearly forgot. I was informed this afternoon that there is no electricity whatsoever at Hogwarts. The wards, most as old as the school, are so powerful that it interferes with electronics of any kind. So I would suggest if you have anything electric with you, including digital watches that you leave them here and I will see to it that your belongings are locked in my office before we depart and are handed back to you when we return."

There were some grumbles at that as many students went to their trunks or pulled off their own watches and started handing random things over to the provost and Master Kane. Harry himself didn't have much in the way of electronics to begin with, but his watch was of the digital variety and so he handed it over with the others. He had a feeling that they were all going to be terribly lost on time for the duration of their stay, maybe they could get an outing to that Wizarding town Celesta had mentioned.

Celesta could be heard mumbling about how she couldn't believe she had to leave her music behind as she rummaged through her neatly packed trunk. Harry only roll his eyes at his sister as he watched Shane speaking to the provost about something. His aunt nodded and then handed something to Shane that Harry couldn't make out from where he was, but was surprised when Shane made a beeline for him. He stopped in front of Harry and practically blocked his view of everyone else with his two inches more of height.

"Harry, because you can't compete, the provost wanted you to have this, to remind everyone of who you are to us," Shane said and handed out a familiar palm-sized silver pendant attached to a thick chain. This pendant he had always seen hanging in his aunt's office. He took it delicately into his hands. The pendant had the Dueling Association crest on one side and DD on the other. The pendant also now bore his full initials, HJPA along the bottom. "The first Dueling Defender and our Captain," Shane said with a smile.

Harry could only smile back as he slipped the pendant over his neck, and then he quickly looked up when he heard clapping around him, and Shane moved out of his view and he realized that they were clapping for him. Harry rubbed the back of his neck in slight embarrassment. Now knowing why Shane had blocked his view. "Umm, thanks guys," he said thickly as he clutched the pendant and forced his emotions back, least he did something really embarrassing and cry.

"You have done so much over the years for this school, Harry, we thought we'd give you something in return," Diana said with a watery smile then before she could embarrass Harry further, she pointed her wand at the various belongings at her feet and they danced off into her nearby office, with the door closing and locking behind them. Master Kane then pulled aside three of the Defenders and handed them each a length of rope.

"We're taking Portkeys then?" Shane asked in interest as he took the rope handed to him.

"Yes, the students are, ten to a rope, no more or less. The Defenders are in charge until the provost and I arrive, we will not be long, but I trust the lot of you can present a unified and dignified front until then?" The students all nodded. Master Kane then pulled Harry aside. "You'll be going a different way with us. Portkey landings can be difficult under the best of circumstances, and international Portkeys tend to be worse. We're going by Floo."

Harry couldn't help but groan at that. "I hate going by Floo," he muttered with a slight huff and Master Kane looked at him in amusement.

"I realize that the Floo network can be a bit disorienting, but it'll be better than landing on your legs wrong and spending your first days in their infirmly," the Dueling Master said wisely.

Harry grudgingly agreed. "I just hope that I don't lose my dinner, and lunch, and breakfast too, not to mention the way they are going to look at me when I stumble out of the fireplace like some drunk," he grumbled.

Master Kane actually laughed in response and then the two turned to watch as the three groups of students all disappeared with a pop. The provost came to stand beside them. "Well gentlemen, what say you help me shrink these trunks and then we'll head out ourselves? Oh and Harry, your father called ahead, the Association all know to use the family name and not Potter for the duration of our stay. I can't imagine that you'd want the attention that an old family name would bring you. We all know how you hate the spotlight," she said knowingly, pointedly, and Harry nodded. It was clear that his father had filled his aunt in on the trouble it would cause if anyone so much as thought that they recognized him. But at least he'd have an adult to turn to if someone did recognize him. That settled his nerves some.

Harry turned from the provost and snapped his wrist down, wincing slightly from the ache in his joints. He grasped his wand that shot quickly out of the holster he had secured on his right forearm. "Now I know why I'm here, to be the pack boy," Harry muttered under his breath and waved his wand and over half the trunks shrunk down at once.

His wand was likely one of the most unique wands among his peers. It had to be made specifically for him, which wasn't that different. Most students' wands were made for them. But his wasn't typically made. They'd tried several different types of cores and woods, but even with his final product, he still blew things up, or nothing happened at all, it was very strange, so had said his giddy wand maker.

It was finally made of two different woods, holly and alder; because of this, the wand itself was ivory in color, but looked as if it had been dipped in blood. The grains in the wood were all bright red, as was the tip of the wand, so it was pretty cool looking. Which was fine by Harry because after he'd found out that he was a Wizard, he'd decided that if they had to use sticks of wood to do magic, their wands should at least be flashy. The influence of one too many Muggle magic shows, his mother once had said.

The core was even more unique than the color. It contained the wingtip feather of a black phoenix, willingly given, very rare. The wand maker had said that his particular core was rarely used in wands simply because it tended to amplify a wizard's magic, making it unstable. In Harry's case, it seemed to settle it, though it was still unstable. So in the end, Harry's own blood was also in his core for added stability. Because of that alone Harry's father and the wand maker had gone through quite the gambit to allow for Harry the use of it. As his wand core was made with his blood, technically every spell he cast was now considered blood magic, which is illegal worldwide.

When finally the wand maker and his father had gotten permission for Harry to use the wand and it was handed over to him; he had been strictly warned not to allow anyone to use his wand, as it would likely kill the caster, or at least seriously harm them, considering the power of the spell. Harry had taken the wand maker's warning very seriously, and then promptly been overwhelmed by the sheer power of his wand. Power that was drawn from his own magical core. Over the years he'd come to fine-tune his control over that power and only really lost it when he was over emotional.

The two adults only shook their heads in amusement at his display, quite used to the levels of power Harry could put into some of his spells, as they continued shrinking and then levitating the trunks into a small box, for easy transport.

"This one seems to be having an issue, it refuses to shrink," his aunt said, as she cast the spell again and then looked over to Harry questioningly and then down at the trunk, Harry's trunk.

Harry's eyes widened. "Oh, that would be my fault," he said quickly and then moved over and dropping roughly to his knees, breathing through the wave of pain that hit him as he did. He really needed to learn to be more careful. He pushed open the lid of his trunk and pulled out a thick book. "Sorry, I already shrunk the book, forgot," he said and then closed the lid and shrunk his trunk, sans book, that he held in his arms, and levitated it into the box with the others. Harry returned his wand to his holster as he stood slowly, with liberal help of his cane.

"That book has been shrunk?" Master Kane questioned as he took in the size of it.

"Well yes, it is _The Complete Compendium of Dueling Tactics_. Can you imagine me trying to fit it into my trunk at its normal size? I'd I've no room for anything else." The two adults glanced at each other briefly. "What? I always bring the Compendium with me to tournaments," Harry said in an _obviously_ sort of tone and then moved over to the large fireplace at the back wall of the entry hall as he tried to ignore the sniggers coming from the Dueling Master and provost.

"I'll go first," Master Kane said, coming up behind Harry. "Our Floo for the night has been open to international travel," he explained briefly. "The Floo destination is Hogwarts School, Headmaster's Office," he told Harry. He schooled his features back into sternness for whoever was waiting for them on the other side and then took a handful of the green powder and then threw it into the fire. "Hogwarts School, Headmaster's Office." He was gone a moment later along with the box of trunks.

"I'll be right behind you, Harry," Diana said reassuringly, patting him on the shoulder.

Harry reached out and took some of the powder into his left hand. He held his book, and cane close to him and then threw the powder into the fire. "Hogwarts School, Headmaster's Office," he said clearly and then stepped forward. His only thought as the rushing, dizzying feeling washed over him was that he hoped his aunt didn't trip over him when she arrived, as he was going to likely be on the floor when she did.

After what felt like hours, but was likely only minutes, the spinning came to an abrupt stop and strong hands caught him as he stumbled out of the fireplace. Unfortunately, while the physical spinning had stopped, the dizziness was still quite a bit there. Harry felt himself moved over to a chair, and he winced visibly as he was sat down. He promptly put his head in his hands, taking deep steadying breaths.

"Harry, are you all right?" Master Kane asked quietly. "Harry?" he prompted worriedly when Harry didn't answer.

"I'll be fine, Emmanuel, just give me and the room a moment to stop spinning," Harry said through clenched teeth, the dizziness was already clearing, that wasn't the problem.

"You are in pain?" Diana asked moving towards him immediately.

Harry nodded. "I'll be fine," he repeated. "Though you were right, Master, it was a very good idea not to take the Portkey." Harry slowly pushed himself to his feet, leaning heavily on his cane. "I just need to walk it off."

"You will tell me immediately if you feel worse, yes?" his aunt said in a voice that broke no arguments and handed him back his book that he'd clearly dropped.

Harry nodded and then looked around the room, now that it was no longer spinning. The room was huge, round, and stonewalled, with dozens of sleeping portraits and hundreds of books lining the walls. The furniture was much more antique than anything at Runes. It was pretty cool. "Wow, I bet you wish you had an office like this back at Runes, eh Diana," he said taking in the gold knickknacks and instruments.

"Oh hush you," his aunt said sternly, though there was amusement in her voice and a bit of envy in her eyes as she looked around herself. "Where is the Headmaster, he did say he was going to meet us here?" she asked Master Kane.

No sooner had he opened his mouth to reply, then a door opened and an _old man_, was the only thing Harry could think, walked in. He wore long deep purple robes, complete with matching hat, he had a white beard that reached to his waist, and wispy white hair that flowed over his shoulders and down his back. _Good Lord_, was he trying to outdo the stereotypical Merlin in looks? Harry looked to his fair-haired provost and the dark haired Master Kane, he'd never thought them young before, but standing before this man, well they almost looked like they were his age.

"Headmaster Dumbledore," the provost said as she walked forward with her hand held out to him.

Harry forced himself to straighten up and not lean so heavily on his cane at the announcement of who this old man was. He unconsciously straightened out his robes and hair. Albus Dumbledore had defeated the Dark Wizard Grindelwald in 1945 in what was said to be one of the greatest duels of the modern age. Was this the same man he'd read about in his European history text? He certainly looked old enough to be.

"Provost Hunter, Master Kane, welcome to Hogwarts. I'm sorry I wasn't here to greet you, some of your students seemed to have had a bit of a landing issue, but they are all right now," he said with a no worries kind of air.

Harry wasn't put off by it at all. One bad landing could stop a duelist from competing, as they'd all discovered before. He made for the door before he'd even considered moving. He was sure Celesta could handle whatever happened, but what if something happened to Celesta, their father would kill him and not to mention they'd all have to put up with Cel complaining…

"Harry, Harry, Harry," Master Kane said his name three times, each more impatiently and then practically shouted. "Harold!"

Harry stopped then and turned back around sheepishly. "Yes, Master Kane?"

"They are fine," he stated firmly.

Harry nodded. "Yes, Master Kane, sorry, just remembering the last bad landing," he muttered.

Diana shook her head fondly at him and then turned to Dumbledore, who seemed to have just taken notice of him. "Headmaster, this is Harold Authland, our School President, Dueling Champion, and Captain of the Dueling Association for five years running," she said proudly.

Harry bowed respectfully over his cane. "Headmaster Dumbledore, it is an honor to meet you, Sir. I've read all about your duel with Grindelwald," he practically gushed, but if anyone were to ask, he'd never admit it.

The provost smiled at him. "I'm sure you are, Harry," she said and then turned back to Dumbledore, her smile fading to uncertainly when he said nothing in return, just stared at Harry with a startled expression on his face. "Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunate for your students, Mr. Authland will not be competing due to injuries he sustained at last year's winter tournament. But since he is Captain and Champion, we only thought it fair that he should attend, especially as he is the only reason we are able to have a winter tournament at all this year," she explained when the Headmaster continued to stare at Harry. Harry looked to his aunt apprehensively.

"Umm," Harry began, but fell silent when the Headmaster finally spoke.

"You were the one who issued the challenges to the schools then," Dumbledore finally said with a vague smile. "I must say that it was a very well worded challenge."

Harry blushed lightly. "I had help," he admitted. "It was my idea; however, the written challenge was more of a collaborative effort."

"Harry is very modest, he doesn't like praise, he thinks it's embarrassing," Master Kane mock whispered to the headmaster, who chuckled at that, his smile coming back onto his face fully, though his blue eyes never really left Harry.

"We even have to trick him into giving him awards," the provost added with a smile. Harry rolled his eyes, but it was true, he'd never been comfortable with people praising his achievements.

"Modesty is a virtue that I wish more people possessed," Headmaster Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eyes. "Well then, shall I lead you to your students, and fellow duelers? My students will be starting to trickle down to the Great Hall for breakfast soon, but I wager that yours will want to get settled in, and have a few hours of sleep as you are quite a bit behind us in time. The Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students and staff joined us last night, so you will have the 'spotlight' as they say. We will announce your presence at lunch if that is all right with you?"

"I'm sure that will be fine, Headmaster, thank you," Provost Hunter said and Harry straight away made for the door, never mind that he didn't know where he was going. He didn't like the way the Headmaster kept looking at him.

…

Cassia Chase, the seventh in rank among the Defenders greeted Harry as he walked into the quarters assigned to the Runes duelers during their stay. Provost Hunter and Master Kane had rooms not too far down the next hall and had left Harry to organize the Association and get them settled, which wasn't an uncommon assignment for him.

Apparently, per the headmaster, the House Elves had been working on their rooms since the beginning of the semester as they'd opened up a whole wing for them that they'd had blocked off for years. Harry wasn't sure that he was comfortable with the idea of them making the elves go through all the trouble. Certainly, if they needed them too, they could have brought tents or expandable cabins to put on the lawn. They did so for Salem every couple of years.

"Harry, don't panic," Cassia said carefully. "Shane had a bad landing when we arrived, but he's all right now, just twisted his ankle and the nice Medi-Witch here, she fixed him up in less than a second," she finished with a smile, obviously to try and put Harry at ease.

"The headmaster already told me," Harry said dryly and continued walking further into the room. "He is all right though, right?" he asked, stopping after a couple of steps and looking back.

"He's fine," Cassia assured. "Are those our trunks?" she asked.

Harry looked down at the box he'd carried into the room awkwardly and then handed them over to the girl with a toothy smile. He then reached in and pulled out his own trunk and his book. "Why thank you for volunteering! You're now in charge of handing them out. I'm going on vacation," he said and then walked on as Cassia burst into laughter, nearly dropping the box as she did. It was an ongoing joke. The provost always left Harry in charge, and Harry without fail, always shuffled his duties off on anyone else he could find when she wasn't around.

Harry took a moment, as he amusedly ignored Cassia, to look around the room. It was kind of dark for his liking, though it was nice to see his school colors decorating… Harry looked more closely. All right, a few banners and maybe an armchair or two in their school colors was fine. But did the tables and fireplace really need to be in the same colors as well… and the rug? Harry shook his head with a snort and then plopped himself down in front of the blue fireplace, stretching his aching legs out slowly.

"Shane?" Harry called, looking around the large room, which seemed to have no problems holding and seating all thirty-one of them.

"Yes, oh champion of the great school of Runes, what is your bidding?" Shane said loudly, with a flourishing bow from the other side of the room.

"You really all right?" asked Harry over the laughter that had sprung up.

"Yes I am," he said seriously and Harry nodded.

"Good, you're in charge of making sure everyone is here and giving out room assignments," Harry said and then narrowed his eyes when he saw some of the older students look at each other excitedly. "And, Shane, no girl/boy rooms," he added with a singsong voice.

Shane gasped as if he'd been gravely offended. "As if I'd ever go against the rules set forth by our esteemed provost…" Harry raised an eyebrow. "Yeah okay," he finished and then went off to accomplish his task as quickly as possible. Harry could already see some of the younger students nodding off on couches or at tables.

Harry remembered when he and the other Defenders were that age and after a simple day like they just had, they were exhausted before even ten o'clock. How strange it was, that it was going on midnight back home and he wasn't even tired. In fact, he was antsy. He wanted to go wander the halls and find out what interesting things this place held, but he'd have plenty of time to do that later. There wasn't much point in him actually practicing, at least not as seriously as he normally would, if he weren't going to compete, so really he'd just have classes and homework to worry about, which was strange for him.

"Umm, Har," Celesta said as she came over holding something in her hand. "You weren't by chance the one to shrink our trunks, were you?"

Harry nodded. "Some of them, why?" he asked.

"You put too much power into it again," his sister said simply and placed her still shrunken trunk on the floor at his feet.

"Oh, oops," Harry said with a sheepish smile and flicked his wrist for this wand. "Why don't you tell those who can't cancel the spell on their trunks to come see me? Guess I was a little bit remembering that one time at Salem when we arrived with our trunks in our pockets and they all resized because of the wards," he said, starting to laugh at the end as he remembered more clearly the incident and the outraged look on Celesta's face.

"Ruined a perfectly good set of dueling robes," she muttered as she pulled her now full size trunk away to a staircase on one side of the room.

It wasn't long before she was back and then duelers started trickling over to Harry, some disappearing up an identical staircase to his left. Harry figured that must be the boy's side and stood after the last student's trunk was normal size. Harry didn't bother resizing his own trunk just yet, it was easier carrying it as it was, besides his copy of the dueler's compendium was difficult enough to maneuver around with while walking with his cane.

"Shane, am I rooming with you?" Harry asked, walking over to his cousin.

Shane nodded. "First floor up, the first door on the left; the other door is the bathroom. Right side's got Cargan and Knox."

Harry nodded. "Cool, thanks for keeping us on the lower level," he said gratefully and then wandered towards the left staircase. He'd love for them to take advantage of the top floor, as Harry was sure that the view was amazing, but it was going to be difficult enough for him getting around Hogwarts what with all of the staircases.

Harry shook his head as he remembered his reaction to seeing what seemed like hundreds of moving staircases on their way there. Something like, "Ah Hell," had slipped out of his mouth, he was sure. His grumbling didn't get much better when they'd been shown to the sixth floor where they were being housed.

…

_AN: Therefore, another chapter._


	4. Welcome to Hogwarts

_Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Harry Potter._

Chapter Four – Welcome to Hogwarts

It felt like Harry had just closed his eyes when the magical alarm he'd set went off, waking him with a jolt. He sat up before his over tired brain convinced him it was all right to go back to sleep again and then slowly, he moved his legs out from under the rather comfortable covers and swung them over the side of the four-poster bed.

The shorts he wore did nothing to hide the real condition his legs were in. While they were about a million times better then they'd been just after the attack, they were still an ugly sight. The deep purple scars that ran up and down and in some areas crisscrossed his legs, he'd probably have for the rest of his life, but the inflammation in his knees and ankles was at least almost completely gone.

Harry slid out of bed with a small wince and then grabbing the clothes he'd laid out earlier and a towel provided, likely by the House Elves, he made for the bathroom they shared with the other room on their floor. Harry checked under the stalls before stripped and got into the shower. While some of the students at Runes had seen his legs, mostly due to the shared bathroom, he still wasn't overly comfortable about others seeing them as well.

Harry showered and dressed as quickly as he could and then headed back into his and Shane's room. He leaned over his still asleep cousin. "Shane," he whispered. "Shane," he said a little bit louder. The boy didn't even flinch. Harry poked him in the shoulder. Shane simple rolled over to his other side. Harry smirked and poked him again. Shane gave a small groan and then rolled over again, this time rolling completely out of bed, his blankets and all following in his wake.

Shane landed with a muffled "oomph," onto the stone floor. "Har," he mumbled from the other side of the bed.

"Yes, Shane," Harry said brightly.

"If I break the no dueling rule, will you tell on me?" he asked in a muffled voice as his face was still in his pillow.

"Well that depends on who you're going to duel," Harry said, moving away from Shane's bed.

The boy jumped up; somewhat clumsily, as his blankets tripped him up, and then finally stood on the other side of his bed with his wand in hand, pointed at Harry; or at least, where Harry had been standing a moment ago. Harry was now hiding behind his own bed, allowing the blue curtains to hide him fully.

"Hey, where'd you go?" Shane asked as soon as he noticed Harry not there.

Harry smirked as he saw Shane's feet visible from under his bed and then cast a tickling charm. Shane fell back to the floor immediately as Harry doubled over laughing.

"Hey, hey, okay, ahaha, you can cancel the charm now, Ha-Ha-Harry!"

Harry left the charm for a moment longer, watching as the other boy wiggled around the floor, before canceling it. Shane sat up, quickly, trying to catch his breath. He looked up at Harry with a death glare.

"That was not fair. You know how ticklish I am," he practically whined and then he scratched at his feet. "Damn, Harry, now they itch."

Harry laughed. "Bet you're awake now, though."

Shane grumbled at that and got back to his feet, still rubbing them one by one on his calves. "Why am I awake again?"

"Because we have less than an hour before the lot of us are being introduced to the Hogwarts students and I need your help making sure everyone is up and all spiffy looking and all that. And I thought you'd like the honors of coming up with a way for us to make an impacting entrance," Harry explained, still hiding partially behind his bed, just in case.

"Impacting entrance? I think I can do that," Shane said with a nod and then grabbed his clothes and towel and left the room, making sure to turn to Harry as he did with a glare. "This is not over, Dueler Potter, this means war," he said decisively and dramatically, his voice deepening to make his point and Harry nodded in serious agreement before laughing when the other boy was gone.

"I'll just make sure I'm up before him every day," Harry said to himself and then grabbed his cane and left the room. He woke their neighbors with a loud knock with his cane, followed by groans and shouts of his name, before he headed across the common room and yelled up the staircase. "Cel and anyone else not awake, get up!" According to Shane, they'd determined earlier that morning that the stairs turned into a slide when boys stepped on to it. Harry would have liked to see that, but wasn't in any hurry to test it.

It wasn't long before Celesta yelled back down that they were up already and for Harry to shut up and worry about getting his side of the dorm ready. Harry simply sat down on the couch in front of the warm fireplace and waited for everyone else to trickle down, every once in a while, casting a charm to check the time.

Finally, when everyone seemed to be in the common room, Harry stood up again, gaining everyone's attention. "Shane's got an idea on our grand entrance, so see him after. I'll be walking in with Master Kane and Provost Hunter. From what I gathered last night, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang are already here, and Headmaster Dumbledore has set up an extra table for the lot of us, so we'll be joining them at meals. After the meal, the headmaster will be showing us around the school, and showing us where we'll be practicing. Try and remember how to, at least get there and to the Great Hall from here. I think that's it for now."

"Harry, my wonderful plan involves you," Shane said before the students could take his attention.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Army?" he asked uncertainly.

"We are an academy and though it didn't turn out so well with that little school in Phoenix…" Shane trailed off hopefully. Some of the younger students were just looking confused, but the older duelers looked giddily at Harry.

Harry thought about it for a moment. The Phoenix Arizona School had basically given up hope of beating them the last time they'd done that entrance, but that school was small, they barely had thirty students, let alone duelers. This school was even bigger than theirs.

"It'll show that we aren't a bunch of pushovers. We are disciplined duelers and what better way to show that?" Celesta said confidently from Shane's side.

Harry finally nodded. "All right, we'll do it, but no one speaks a word of this to the provost and I'll still walk in with them, they expect it."

"All the better," Shane said with a smile. "Just remember your lines." And with that, the students started huddling around him, leaving Harry to sneak out of the common room.

Harry was still uncertain about this plan. Diana might very well blow up on them afterwards, especially if it turned out badly. He shook his head and worries away. He'd deal with that then. He walked down the hall and then another, and stopped at the door that lead to the rooms the two adults shared. He was just about to knock when a rather silky, yet severe voice spoke from behind him.

"This corridor is off limits to students."

Harry turned around. "Good thing I'm not your student then…" he said with a grin that faded as he took in the rather intimidating man before him. He was clothed entirely in black, with only the pale skin on his face and hands showing. Even his hair was an inky black, even deeper than his own was, and it fell straight around his face. Harry couldn't help but stand up straighter; it was a defensive mechanism. He wasn't an attractive man, at least in the traditional sense of the word, but he was powerful. Harry could tell that he would he would attract people because of that power alone.

"So it would seem," the man, who Harry figured must be one of the Hogwarts teachers, stated while he looked over Harry carefully, calculatingly. "That does not change the fact that this corridor is off limits to students."

Harry found his voice easily; he was never one to back down. "Yes, well with all due respect to your rules, you'll find that I always have permission to go anywhere that Master Kane and Provost Hunter are," Harry said with his eyes narrowed slightly at the man. He didn't want to get off on the wrong foot with any of the teachers here, but he wasn't about to let them think he could be pushed around by them either, just because he was from a different school. He quickly tapped on the door with the bottom of his cane, which the man's black eyes took in curiously.

A moment later, the door to Harry's back opened. "Harry," Diana said behind him and Harry turned to look at her as she looked at the teacher and then back at him. "What's wrong?" she asked straight away.

"Apparently students aren't allowed down this hallway," Harry explained. "He was just pointing that out, and I was pointing out that I am allowed. We're ready by the way," he said a bit uneasily. He didn't know why, but the man was probably the most intimidating person Harry had ever come across, and it was making his magic want to lash out. It was disconcerting. Harry hadn't felt this way since the attack at the Rock.

"Very good, Harry," his aunt said, placing a hand on his shoulder and then looked to the man. "Mister…?"

"Professor Severus Snape," he finished shortly.

"Yes, Professor Snape, Harry is always allowed to come to me. His situation is such, that while he is still a student, abroad he operates as Master Kane's and my proxy when we are not available. And as for the rest of my students, they are always allowed to come find me in an emergency situation."

"Very well, I will keep that in mind," Snape said, as he glared intensely at Harry for a moment and then turned and left, his robes doing a spectacular billow as he stalked off down the hall and then disappeared around the corner.

"I wonder what he teaches, or do you suppose he bothers to teach anything. His students probably just stare at him in a stupefied fear all class period," Harry said without thinking.

Diana just laughed. "I'm sure he's not as intimidating in his classroom, Harry. He was likely here to try and put us off. He will want to see his students win after all."

Harry stood up straighter. "If that's the case, I'll be sure to show him, that I - we can be just as intimidating."

"If that is your plan, Harry, then we best get to it, they are expecting us in the Great Hall in ten minutes," Master Kane reminded, coming out of the room.

"Right," Harry said as they started walking back towards the student's common room. "I'll be walking in with you. We don't want to give them the wrong impression. They'd probably cry foul if they thought we'd brought an extra dueler without telling them," Harry added, more to himself then the two adults. "The duelers will be mar- walking in by rank, younger years first, and so on. We will follow. It is about them, not us after all."

"Good reasoning, Harry, but were you going to say marching, instead of walking by chance?" the provost asked with narrowed eyes.

"Why ever would I say that," Harry said airily.

"If you scare them all and they give up without even considering it, just know, I'm blaming you," Diana said and then entered into the common room. "All right you lot, let's go greet Hogwarts," she said loudly and the students began filing out in an orderly fashion.

Master Kane leaned into whisper to Harry. "The Great Hall is huge, we saw it this morning. You might want to use a Sonorus Charm to get everyone's attention."

"If you're going to do this right, Harry, may I suggest making your pendant viewable," the provost said as she followed Master Kane and Harry.

Harry just blinked at her. "Why?" he asked, pulling the pendant out from within his robes.

"To make it known that you are something more of course," Master Kane answered as if it were obvious. "That you are the army's leader as it were."

A smile came to Harry's lips. "Captain Harry. This is going to be fun," he said to himself.

The Great Hall doors were huge, Harry noted as he and the others approached them. The Runes duelers started to get in order in front of the closed doors, forming two lines. Harry was actually rather glad the doors were closed. It made for a better entrance. As much as the two heads of Runes were strict about some things, they certainly liked making an entrance memorable.

Harry straightened himself out as with a gentle flick of Provost Hunter's wand, the doors flew open, startling more than one seated student. Master Kane nodded to the Runes students and then Shane stood up straighter and opened his mouth.

"Left, left, left, right, left," he bellowed and then repeated and the Runes duelers began to march in time with Shane into the Great Hall as the Hogwarts students all sat up a little straighter to get a better look with wide eyes. Their marching footsteps echoed throughout the hall spectacularly. As they reached the top of the hall, they came to a marching halt and as one stopped all together, coming to a resting position with their hands behind their backs, facing what was apparently the staff table, with Headmaster Dumbledore standing in front of it.

Harry wiped the grin off his face and picking up his cane, began to walk in with as normal a gate as he could. Provost Hunter and Master Kane following just a step behind him. Harry almost faltered as he saw just how many students there really were in the hall, and all of them turning to stare at him. None of the schools they'd competed at were nearly as large as this one. Harry steeled himself though and with a gentle, barely noticeable flick of his wand, he cast _Sonorus_ non-verbally.

"Attention!" he said quietly, but his voice reverberated around the hall dramatically nonetheless. The Runes students who were all standing at the top of the hall, at ease, made a show of widening their eyes and then snapped their feet together. Their hands came straight down at their sides, and as one, all of their wands slid into their wand hand from their holsters. The provost and Master Kane nodded to Harry with serious expressions as they left him after they caught up with their duelers. They moved to stand next to the headmaster with proud looks on their faces.

"Form rank!" Harry ordered and the duelers in tandem all quickly marched one-step ahead, splitting in the middle and turning on their heels and then marched across the top of the hall so that they ended, forming a single line. They turned to face the rest of the hall. "Defenders front and center," he said in a clipped tone as he stepped closer, looking them over in a critical fashion, as if inspecting his troops.

"Yes Captain," the Dueling Defenders said as one and then they marched forward a step, out of the line. The rest of the Association quickly slid sideways towards the center to cover the gap. The Defenders turned on their heel and marched across the front, all in time with another. All twelve of them came to a stopped in their own straight line and then as one, turned to Harry, which also meant that they also turned to face the assembled students who were now starting to stare at them all in a bit of trepidation, just as Harry wanted.

"Among these students are your opponents," Harry said loudly after canceling the charm, his voiced still flowed over the hall nicely. He walked down the line of Defenders as he spoke. "Some of them will defeat you, some you will defeat." The Dueling Association stood just a bit taller at that and Harry saw many of the Hogwarts students lean into one another to whisper to their neighbor, or just sit up straighter to get a better look.

Harry stopped at the end of the line and turned back. He now stood beside his sister, and in his proper place in rank, he made sure his wand was as visible in his hand as the others were. "Regardless who is victor, every one of these students here has welcomed us into their school, as we would them. You will honor them by doing your best in competition and show them respect outside of the dueling ring. Am I understood?"

"Yes Captain Defender!" the Association said as one and Harry had to stop himself from smacking his head at how much they made that sound like he was an American comic book hero, quite probably the effect Shane wanted to have. How they all managed to keep a straight face, Harry _would_ find out later.

Now though, he'd play his role. "Honor your opponents, and our hosts," he said simply and he and the Defenders all crossed their right hands, with their wands, to their left shoulders and bowed first to the students and then turned as one and the entire Association, bowed to the Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang professors.

Once they'd straightened, Dumbledore clapped loudly. "Splendid," he said. "And on behalf of my students and staff, welcome to Hogwarts, we are honored you have come." He motioned to one of the five long tables set up in the large hall behind them. Four of them had blue, green, yellow, and red banners over each of them. The fifth had three banners over it, each with a school crest on it. This was the one the headmaster pointed to. "You may take a seat if you wish."

The Association didn't move, but all looked to Harry. "Move out!" he said, trying not to roll his eyes when the Defenders smirked at him. They all marched off, Harry nodded to the headmaster, Provost Hunter, and Master Kane before following at a more leisurely pace; his legs were starting to kill him, but he didn't let it show and he refused to lean on his cane until he was away from his audience.

Once they were all seated, Dumbledore made a speech about the honor of holding the first dueling tournament in over fifty years at Hogwarts, and so on and so forth, welcoming them, and the other two schools. For the most part, Harry zoned it out as he looked around the hall at all of the staff, at the students, at the other two school's duelers. But after a moment, his eyes were drawn to Professor Snape. The man was staring at him intently, as if judging him.

Harry simply stared back with raised eyebrows, clearly showing that he knew the man was staring at him. Snape was intimidating, Harry would give the man that, but Harry wasn't one to be so easily intimidated either. This morning he was caught off guard, he wouldn't let that happen again. Snape blatantly stared at him for another long moment before turning away and facing Dumbledore. Harry shook his head and looked at the other four tables; each was obviously for a different house.

"How long is he going to continue this," Harry heard a student whisper impolitely at the table next to theirs. It was the one with the green banner over it and all of the students had green and silver embellishments on their robes. "By the time he's done we won't have time to eat and I refuse to go to Snape's class hungry."

"If it weren't Snape's, I'd refuse to go to class at all if I thought the Gryffindors wouldn't show either," a girl whispered next. Harry turned slightly to see them.

"I don't really care if I'm hungry or not. I heard Professor Snape is going over the Imperious this class. I wouldn't miss that for the world," a blond teen said quietly. "We all know who he's going to test it on," he added with a smirk as he looked around knowingly at the others. Several students around him snickered quietly.

Harry frowned and looked at Snape again. He couldn't believe a teacher would use a curse like that on a student, or be allowed to for that matter, but it seemed as if these students believed he would. He likely wasn't teaching them how to cast the curse, just throw it off; at least he hoped that was the case. It was a good mental discipline to learn how to break out of the Imperious, but there were other ways to teach someone to do so without using the actual curse. His mom had taught him and Celesta how to when they were twelve, one of many things their mom had taught them.

As if sensing that Harry was looking at him again, Snape turned to glare at Harry. Harry quickly looked back at the group again as they continued talking in hushed voices. They were still discussing Professor Snape. He seemed rather popular among these students.

"Professor Snape should have been made the Defense professor a long time ago," the blond continued. "Maybe then Dueling would have been brought back sooner. It's just too bad Dumbledore won't give him the position. Though I have to admit, Black's pretty good for a Gryffindor. So much better than that freak Lockhart was anyway." The students around him laughed quietly again. Harry barely noticed.

Black. Wasn't that the name his father had said he was the family heir of. Harry didn't have a chance to dwell on it as the girl continued, giving Harry something other to think about, and a bit more troubling.

"We all know if Snape had his way, Dumbledore would be dead and the Dark Lord would be Headmaster," the girl whispered and then the blond elbowed her hard in the ribs. "Ow!"

"Too bold, Pansy," he hissed.

"I'm just saying the truth, Draco," Pansy said hotly, rubbing her ribs.

"And too loud," Draco hissed again looking up to Snape, clearly to see if he'd heard and then he saw Harry staring. Draco narrowed his eyes at him, but before he could comment, food appeared on the tables and Harry turned back around quickly, storing the information away for later thought.

While the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students started eating at either end of the table, the Runes students all stared at Harry expectantly. Harry rolled his eyes. "Really?" he asked and then shook his head, "Chow down!" he ordered dryly and they started to eat. Harry could only laugh, as Shane patted him on the shoulder.

"Aye-Aye Captain," Harry muttered to himself with a snort and started to eat.

…

The tour of Hogwarts the first day took a good chunk of the afternoon, and by the time they'd been shown to the classroom, they'd be using for practice it was dinnertime, leaving no practice time available for that night. It only meant that Harry had gotten the Defenders up the next morning very early. Harry couldn't compete, but he'd been practicing with them for months and wasn't about to stop, just because nothing would come of it. And Harry would admit he had nothing better to do.

The day had seemed to drag on after that. It being Sunday, no one had lessons. Harry, Shane, and Celesta had decided to explore the day away, but by dinner, Harry was beginning to believe that the Hogwarts students didn't really want them, or the students from the other two schools there. Some of the conversations they'd walked into were almost hostile, but quickly broke up when their presence was made known.

Harry had to admit that he was in a foul mood as they made their way back to their common room before dinner, to meet the other Defenders. He was in pain, and tired, and he was a bit off put by some of the student's reactions to him alone. He'd honestly felt more welcome at The Rock, and several of their students had physically attacked him.

Shane was walking slowly beside him as they lagged behind because of Harry's pace. Celesta had gone ahead to tell the Defenders to meet them in the hall, though Harry doubted they'd all be ready yet; they still had some time before dinner.

"Are you going to be all right?" Shane asked, looking at Harry critically.

"I'll be fine," Harry said shortly.

"If you want to rest…" Shane began.

"I said I'll be fine, Shane," Harry bit out. "I'm not as delicate as everyone believes I am. I can deal with a bit of pain!"

"Oh, you heard what those kids said," Shane said quietly.

"Yes I heard. They think I'm an invalid," Harry practically sneered the word. "If I could compete…"

"But you can't," Shane finished regretfully. "You'll just have to show them that you're more through the rest of us. You are basically responsible for how good at dueling the Association are anyway, and we'll show them that. You're still our captain. But why are you letting this bother you, you've never let stuff like this bother you before?"

Harry shook his head. He couldn't explain it himself. "I don't know. Maybe because England is where I was born, I could have been their classmate. I could have gone to school here."

"Or your aunt could have thrown you on the street before you were six," Shane reminded blandly.

Harry glared at him. He wasn't standing up for that retched woman he'd once called his aunt, it was just annoying when Shane or anyone brought up his past like that. "Either way it doesn't matter, I didn't go to school here, and I can't explain why it bothers me, not really. It just does."

Shane threw his arm around Harry's shoulders "How about I get Aunt Di to get you a nice pain relief potion, you're always in a better mood after those," he said cheekily.

Harry rolled his eyes and then shrugged. "Yeah, okay, it couldn't hurt," Harry said with a laugh, and then suddenly stopped walking as they rounded the corner, and nearly ran into Professor Snape. Harry straightened up as much as his sore legs allowed.

Snape looked between the two duelers with narrowed eyes. "Lost your way?" he asked simply, though his tone suggested that it was anything but a simple question.

Shane and Harry both shook their heads. "No," they said in unison.

"No, Sir," Snape corrected, his eyes narrowing further.

Shane and Harry looked at each other and then it was as if neither of them could help themselves. They snorted and then started laughing outright. Snape glowered at them and they laughed harder, holding onto each other for support.

"Oh, and I thought Master Kane was good," Shane choked out, but soon the two of them sobered as Snape practically glared death at them. "Oh, Har, I don't think he was kidding," Shane hissed to Harry, grabbing onto his arm more tightly.

"No, I most certainly was not," Professor Snape nearly growled.

Harry cringed. "We are so sorry, we didn't mean to make fun, umm – Master Kane has this thing where he pretends to be really strict… clearly you're not pretending…" Harry trailed off uncomfortably.

"Clearly," Snape hissed almost dangerously and then he smirked. "Detention, tonight after dinner, my office, do not be late!" With that said the professor turned on his heel and stormed down the hall, back the way he had come, leaving Harry and Shane to stare after him with their mouths hanging open.

"Can he even give us detention?" Shane asked after a moment.

"Logically, I'm not sure," Harry muttered. "Umm, Diana did say that we are following most of their rules. And if we don't go, we could be in more trouble."

"But we're not his students and I don't remember there being any rule about accidentally being rude to one of their teachers, so maybe we can just take it up with Aunt Di? It was an honest mistake, right?" Shane asked uncertainly.

Harry squared his shoulders and then nodded. "Right. And even Master Kane would see it as such. He'd probably find it funny actually," he added with a chuckle and then nodded again. "Okay, we'll tell them and they'll fix things. I'd rather not spend my second night in this place in trouble anyway."

…

_AN: One more?_


	5. Missing But Not Forgotten

_Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Harry Potter._

Chapter Five – Missing But Not Forgotten

Harry wouldn't pretend that he was the golden child of Runes. He had a vindictive streak a mile wide when he felt the need for it, but being raised by a judge, and not just any judge, but the High Judge for the International Confederation of Wizards, did instill some principles into him. It also gave him a healthy respect for authority, which was why Harry was standing outside Professor Severus Snape's office in the Hogwarts Dungeons, instead of heading to breakfast with the rest of his peers.

The day before, Harry and Shane had tracked down their provost and explained what had happened and how they'd come to have detention assigned to them for that night. Diana had been a bit annoyed by their mistake, but took it as such, a harmless mistake. She'd told them not to worry about going to the detention, and that she would take care of it, but warned the two to watch what they said in the future.

The two of them had agreed, but Harry hadn't been settled by just letting his aunt smooth things over. Harry wanted to formally apologize. Shane wasn't so convinced that was a good idea when Harry had brought it up earlier that morning. He thought the whole apologizing bit was good just not the one on one, part of it. He'd suggested writing a letter. Shane did tell Harry good luck though, and then proceeded to hum a dirge as Harry left the room, glaring at him all the way. And so now, Harry was standing outside the dour man's office, alone, even though they'd been told to travel in pairs, and was trying to convince himself to raise his hand and knock on the door.

Harry finally raised his fist and then a silky, slightly menacing voice spoke up behind him. "You could knock, but it will not do you any good, no one will answer," it said slowly.

Harry turned, lowering his hand. "Hello Professor, how long have you been there?" he asked steadily, though he found himself rather unnerved that he hadn't heard the man approach.

"Long enough," Professor Snape said in an almost weary sort of way. Harry couldn't help looking over the man curiously. He was dressed as he was the last Harry had seen him, but he almost looked tense, stressed with the way he was holding himself. "What is it I can do for you, Mister Authland?" Snape asked pointedly and Harry mentally shook himself.

"I came to apologize, on behalf of Shane and I. Our behavior toward you was not in good conduct," Harry said honestly.

Snape raised an eyebrow before brushing past Harry to open his office door. Harry quite honestly expected the man to just close the door in his face, so was a bit surprised when Snape, after a moment, waved him in. Harry followed. He looked around the dim office briefly and then nearly jumped when the door behind him clicked closed. Harry glanced back at it uncertainly.

"And did Provost Hunter request that you come here to make amends?" Snape asked tersely with his back still to Harry.

Harry frowned as he turned back to the man and then shook his head, even though the professor wasn't looking at him. "No Sir, she doesn't know I'm here."

Snape stopped at his desk and then turned back to look at Harry with a contemplative, almost calculating look in his black eyes. "Is that so?"

Harry nodded. "Yes Sir. I wanted to explain the reason for our behavior yesterday."

Snape crossed his arms over his chest, and leaned back against his desk. It would have looked like a casual gesture, but even with the layers of fabric, Harry could tell that the man's muscles were taut, as if he was ready to spring into battle at any moment. It made Harry feel edgy. "Very well, Mister Authland, do explain," he said in a tone that suggested that it better be a good explanation.

Harry walked forward a few more paces so that he wasn't halfway across the room from the man. He leaned unconsciously on his cane as he thought a bit about how to form his words. "Provost Hunter is my aunt and Master Kane has been something of my mentor since I started at Runes. I suppose because of that I have developed a close working relationship with most of my school's staff. I know them very well and they me. Master Kane is one of the strictest men I know, has to be to keep us, the duelists in line, but for those few of us that really know him; we understand that his sternness is usually masking some sort of amusement. Shane and I, we mistook your seriousness as a joke and we're sorry about that. We never would have laughed had we thought otherwise."

"You could not have explained all of that in detention?" Snape asked when Harry was finished.

Harry frowned again. "It was a simple mistake, a misunderstanding. I was raised to believe that misunderstandings should be forgiven, not punished. I guess we didn't think that we deserved detention."

Snape moved away from his desk almost gracefully and approached Harry. "It has been in my experience, Mister Authland that a simple mistake can lead to disastrous consequences."

Harry forced himself not to fidget under the man's intense gaze. The professor was right, mistakes could have consequences. Harry was standing there with a cane because of one such mistake. "They can," Harry agreed softly, not looking at the man. "But this one didn't," he added firmly looking back up. "However if you still feel that we deserve to be punished for our mistake, then I will serve your detention, but don't punish Shane. He wouldn't have laughed, if I hadn't."

Snape continued to stare at him. Whether or not he was considering Harry's words, Harry couldn't tell, but finally he spoke. "I suppose since you did come to apologize under your own volition, I can forgo punishing you. However, I would advise for the future, that you not assume anything of anyone here. Some will take more offense to it than I."

Harry nodded. "Thank you. I will keep that in mind, Sir."

"See that you do, Mister Authland. Now if you would excuse me, I have an Advanced Potions class to get ready for and I'm sure that your peers will be wondering where you are," Snape said briskly, moving back to his desk.

"Potions?" Harry couldn't help ask interestedly.

Snape looked back at him with slightly narrowed eyes. He nodded stiffly. "Yes, Potions. I am the Potions Professor, so it would stand to reason that I would teach it."

Harry couldn't tell if the man was jesting with him, but decided not to assume anything as the professor had just suggested. "I don't suppose that you would allow me to sit in on your classes from time to time? Only Potions is one of my favorite subjects and while the provost is competent enough to teach it to us while we're here, it is my exam year, and I doubt she'll be going over anything too complicated over the next two months."

Snape actually looked surprised at the question, but then his expression seemed to settle into neutrality. Harry would really love to know how he controlled his emotions so well, but bit his tongue to keep from asking. "I suppose if you really wish to, you can sit in on some of my seventh year Potion classes. If your provost has no issue with it that is. Though I should tell you, you may find my classes very challenging."

"I thrive on challenges. It's probably why I'm a dueler and I love Potions so much," Harry said honestly, smiling slightly.

"I expect only the best from my students, and no fooling around in my classroom. It's my strictest rule, too many accidents can happen," Snape said seriously.

Harry didn't know if the man was trying to put him off or not, but he nodded. "I understand, Sir."

Snape nodded slowly, and then went to his desk. He wrote something down on a piece of parchment with an old looking quill and then handed the paper out to Harry. "These are the times for my Advanced Potion classes. You may choose which to attend," he explained. Harry moved forward and then took the paper. Snape eyed Harry's scarred right hand with a frown. "May I ask how you were injured?" he asked softly, but also a bit abruptly.

Harry looked at his hand briefly before looking back at the professor while pocketing the timetable in his bag he had slung around his shoulders. He normally didn't like to talk about his injuries, but for some reason he didn't mind telling the man. "Last year our winter dueling tournament was held host by the Rocky Mountain School of Magic. We've always had a strong rivalry with them, probably because we're both on the same coast, but it had always been a friendly rivalry as most of us know each other.

"With the stronger duelers I like to tease them, mouth off to them during our duels. It usually tends to frustrate them, fluster them enough to make a mistake, drop their guard. I usually don't say anything too harsh, mostly jokes, confusing sentences…" Harry shook his head. "I guess this time I must have got carried away. I was frustrated about something. I've never said anything offending before. I honestly don't remember the duel much at all, or what I said…

"After I was awarded champion, I was on my way back to our rooms alone when they cornered me. They demanded a duel, a real duel; no holds. I tried to walk away. I didn't have my wand on me and wouldn't have participated in an unauthorized duel regardless, but there were five of them. I like to think I held my own for a little while. I certainly dodged enough of their spells, but after I went down, they didn't stop. I guess they thought that if they injured me permanently then they'd never have to duel me in competition again. Lucky for me, not so much for them, Master Kane and their principle found us. The five of them were expelled and incarcerated and I was in the hospital for the next three months. I'm told I nearly died, though I don't remember. I haven't dueled in competition since then and likely won't be able to for the rest of my school carrier."

Snape seemed to consider his words for a moment before he walked over to a cabinet set in one of the walls. He pulled down a small black jar and then turned back to Harry. "I don't know what your healers prescribed you for your scars, but I've developed a salve that heals scar tissue. It works better than the surface salves that are normally prescribed. It doesn't work quickly, but it should alleviate some of the pain and eventually allow for better motor function." He handed Harry the jar. "Rub a small amount into the more problematic areas every night before bed, if you need more, do not hesitate to ask."

Harry held the cool jar in his hand delicately. "Thank you, Professor Snape," he said sincerely.

"You are welcome, Mister Authland. You should get back, and I still have a class to prepare," Snape said pointedly.

Harry nodded and left the room thoughtfully. His opinion of the intimidating man had been changed significantly this morning. He still seemed rather severe, almost unemotional, but Harry found himself wanting to get to know the man better. He looked forward to attending the professor's classes.

…

When Harry finally got to the Great Hall, after having taken two wrong turns, he found that most of the students were finishing up their meals and leaving. Harry made his way over to the table they shared with Beauxbatons and Durmstrang and then almost hesitated to sit at the looks he was receiving from all of the Defenders. The thirteen of them were the only Runes students left in the hall; presumably, the others had already eaten and gone. The Defenders were probably waiting on him, since they all ate together as was their tradition at meals. In the middle of their group, on the table, a Wizarding newspaper lay open.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" he asked, finally sitting beside his sister, who was looking a little pale.

"There was an attack in London last night. Twenty-seven Muggles were killed. Dark Wizards," Shane explained, and pushed the paper towards Harry.

Harry frowned, pulling it the rest the way towards him He quickly read through the article. "Who's this Dark Lord?" he asked no one in particular.

"Who is the Dark Lord?" a strongly accented voice asked incredulously from down the table. "You must be joking." The Defenders all turned towards the Durmstrang girl, all looking at her blankly. "You truly do not know?"

"Clearly," Annette said. "Would you care to fill us in?"

"His story is in all the history books and recently the newspapers… Ve do not say his name. It is taboo. He has cursed it," another Durmstrang student across the table said. He shook his head. "You have truly never heard of him?"

"Well if its recent history, then we don't study it in history of magic," Emily said with a shrug. "And we don't get much current news from over here either."

"Ze Dark Lord was a charismatic English Wizard who had a strong following twenty years ago," a Beauxbatons boy at the other end of the table explained as he stood, clearly finished with his meal. He was the last Beauxbatons student still sitting at the table. "He campaigned for Pureblood supremacy, terrorized and killed those he did not see fitting into his ideal world," he said bluntly and then left. The Defenders looked after him and then back at the Durmstrang students.

"He killed mostly Muggles and Muggleborns. Some Half-bloods who refused to follow him as vell. But sixteen years ago, he vas stopped. Until two years ago everyone thought he vas dead, and then he and his followers started to attack people again," the Durmstrang girl finished lightly.

"Who stopped him?" Harry asked.

"Ha –"

"I'm sorry to interrupt," a girl said from over Harry's shoulder. Harry and the others on his side of the table turned to look up at her. She was dressed in Hogwarts robes with red and gold embellishments, Gryffindor House, as Harry had come to learn during their tour. She was the Head Girl, one of the two who had shown them around Hogwarts, Hermione Granger, if he remember correctly. "Provost Hunter… oh, are you talking about the attack? Terrible what's happened."

"They do not know who the Dark Lord is," the Durmstrang girl pointed out.

"Oh," she said in surprise, looking around at the thirteen. "But of course, you likely don't receive our news regularly do you?" The lot shook their heads.

"Ve vere filling them in, as they say," the girl said helpfully. "But maybe you know more, this Dark Lord is from England." She stood and the few remaining Durmstrang students stood with her. "Ve have class," she said and then nodded respectfully at the Runes students and then they left.

"Maybe," Hermione said uncertainly when all thirteen turned their eyes on her. "Well, where did they leave off?" she asked almost determinedly, taking a seat at the table.

"They were just about to tell us who stopped him," Cargan Lockwood said. "You know, sixteen years ago."

Hermione frowned. "The Boy-Who-Lived did," she said lightly and then elaborated when they just continued to stare at her. "No one is certain how. We just know that You-Know-Who – the Dark Lord attacked his family on Halloween night in 1981 when their Secret Keeper Peter Pettigrew revealed their location to him. You-Know-Who killed his parents first and then cast the Killing Curse at him. But it rebounded instead of killing him and You-Know-Who disappeared until two years ago. That's why we call him the Boy-Who-Lived."

"What happened to the boy?" Celesta asked.

"No one knows for sure. He disappeared. Some say that You-Know-Who took him, killed him out of revenge, but there was no evidence of it. People still look for him, they think of him as a sort of hero. There's always someone who knows _something_, but it's been a really long time and I don't think anyone will ever find him. A lot of people still hope he comes back someday though," Hermione explained almost sadly. "He'd have been seventeen this year, in my class, had he come to Hogwarts."

"So what was his name, or is that taboo too?" Harry asked.

"Oh, no, it's not. We're not positive that You-Know-Who's is either, but people were killed for saying it in the past so we tend not to say it now, just in case. But the Boy-Who-Lived's name was Harry Potter," she said and all of the Defenders turned quickly to look at Harry with wide eyes.

Harry felt the blood drain out of his face as he too registered what she'd just said. He stood from his seat so quickly that he ended up stumbling into the empty table behind him, and then disregarding the pain in his legs, he ran out of the room, leaving his cane and bag behind in his haste to be anywhere else, but there.

…

Harry wasn't quite sure how he'd ended up where he was. He'd intended on just returning to his dorm room, but had taken a wrong turn somewhere in his haste, getting himself completely lost, and he supposed that at that point he just didn't care. How his legs had held out long enough to get him here was a miracle. Of course, that was why he was still there, sitting with his back to the low stonewall and staring up at the soon to be afternoon sky that was promising rain in the very near future.

He was in too much pain and his legs were shaking too much for him to even contemplate being on them, not that he really wanted to go back though. Going back meant that he'd likely have to talk about what Hermione Granger had told them. He didn't even want to think about it. If it was true, if he was this boy…

Harry shook his head. He didn't know what to feel if he really was this Boy-Who-Lived, as they'd titled him. Never mind the fact that his father had apparently kidnapped a national hero, his biological parents had been murdered by someone who's name no one even dared to say because it was cursed. And then there was the fact that he'd survived getting hit with the Killing Curse when he was one, how was that even possible?

"Harry! Harry, are you here?" Celesta suddenly called, stepping into the tower room.

Harry was hidden from view where he was sat, and for a split second, he debated not answering. "Yeah, I'm over here," he said with a sigh, but didn't bother trying to push himself to his feet.

Celesta rounded the corner carrying his cane and book bag. She took one look at him and then plopped down next him and pulled his slightly shaking form into her arms, just as she used to do when they were little. "Oh, Har," she whispered into his hair. "It's going to be all right."

Harry clung to his sister's robes, burying his face in her shoulder. They used to sit like this for hours sometimes when they were little, and Harry still thought that his Muggle aunt and uncle where going to come and take him away. It'd been years, but it still had the same calming effect on Harry as it did then. "It's not," Harry disagreed. "How can it be?"

"No one will know. The Defenders have all agreed not to say anything and we told Granger you were sick," Celesta reassured. "We're only here for a few weeks and then we can go home and forget about it."

Harry shook his head and pulled away from his sister. "My birth parents were fucking murdered! Of all the scenarios I imagined that had happened to them, never once did I consider murder. And their killer is still out there. How can I just forget about that?" his voice raised slightly at the end and Harry closed his eyes tightly to reign in his emotions.

Celesta pulled him back into her arms, holding him tightly. "I don't know," she whispered shakily. "But promise me, you won't do anything stupid."

Harry looked up quickly. "Why would I do something stupid?"

Celesta gave him a halfhearted watery smile. "I know you, Harry, I'm your sister. You may not have considered it yet, but you will." She frowned. "You said it yourself, that man who killed them is still out there. And you've got too much of a conscience to let that stand."

Celesta was right, he hadn't considered it. But now that he was starting to think about it, he wanted nothing more than to hunt the bastard down, but not to bring him to justice as Celesta so obviously thought, no Harry wanted revenge. But he was also smart enough, cautious enough not to follow through with his impulses. His father had always taught him to think through his actions before doing them, to not allow his emotions to impair his judgment. And going out and hunting down his parent's murderer was just a stupid idea. Besides, he wasn't yet ready for a duel of that proportion.

"I'm not an idiot, Cel. I don't even know how powerful this Dark Lord is… Do you really think his name is cursed?" Harry couldn't help but ask.

Celesta shrugged. "Granger doesn't seem to think so, but I got the impression that people are too scared to find out." She looked contemplative for a moment. "Maybe they just don't know it. I mean if no one says it, how do they know what it is?"

"Maybe it's written down somewhere. They did say the Dark Lord was in their history books," Harry said thoughtfully.

"I don't know, it wasn't even in the newspaper article," Celesta said.

"Maybe we can look it up…" Harry suggested, trailing off when Celesta gave him a worried look. "Look I'm not going to do anything stupid," he assured. "But I just… I need to know his name and I need to know why. Why did he attack my family, why did he try to kill me? How…"

"How did you survive a Killing Curse?" Celesta finished uneasily.

Harry nodded. "Yeah."

"We'll figure it out, Har," Celesta said firmly and then stood. "But right now, we're supposed to be at dueling practice."

Harry looked up at his sister sheepishly. "Only one problem, Cel. I can't get up."

Celesta shook her head. "Have you tried?" she asked in amusement.

"I knew I was forgetting something," he said and then with difficulty pulled himself to his feel using the wall. He didn't let the pain he was feeling show on his face as Celesta handed him his cane. Though his sister did give him a worried look. She always could read him like a book; it was what made them such good duelists. They had to work very hard to pay attention to each other's movements and expressions when competing against each other. They'd honed that ability so well, that it was almost easy going against others.

…

_AN: To be continued…_


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